MULLER'S THEOREMS

1. Theorem: if it happens, it must be possible.

2. Theorem: We never take credit for our best skills for they come without effort.

3. Corollary: You never give yourself credit for those things you do best.

4. Corollary: People tend to work to improve their weaknesses rather than exploit their strengths.

5. Corollary We spend most of our effort trying to learn to do things for which we have little talent..

6. Theorem: The responsibility associated with a job is proportional to the second power of the power.

7. Corollary: Every person with power feels powerless.

8. Theorem: Everything we read in the newspapers is true, unless we were involved, and then what we read is not only wrong but backwards.

9. Corollary: Most of our opinions are based on false information.

10. Associated Wise Saying (from Josh Billings): The trouble with most folks isn’t so much their ignorance; it’s knowing so much that ain’t so.

11. Theorem: Everybody else's life is just as complicated as your own.

12. Corollary: You can’t guess how other people will behave in most situations.

13. Associated Commandment: Never reject someone’s request for “their own good.”

14. Theorem: Any action that is beyond criticism is invariably incorrect.

15. Corollary: Any totally successful project was not sufficiently daring.

16. Corrollary: Beware the straight A average.

17. Theorem: Boredom is God’s most insidious and powerful gift to mankind.

18. Corollary: Boredom is a frequent predecessor to creativity.

19. Corollary: Learning is the second greatest joy in life.

20. Corollary: Solitary confinement can be the most severe punishment.

21. Theorem: The reasons that the rules of life are unpublished is that they are constantly changing.

22. Corollary: Novels, stage, and film are less realistic than Nintendo.

23. Theorem: Life is more interesting and rewarding than physics or mathematics.

24. Corollary: Great theorists don't ‘burn out’; they discover life.

25. Theorem: Scientists are as easily fooled as anybody else.

26. Corollary: A scientist should know the above theorem and take steps to compensate.

27. Theorem: Creativity is characterized by the physical symptoms of adventure.

28. Corollary: Adventure is characterized by uncertainty, anxiety and discomfort.

29. Theorem: In a fireworks display, if you’re not sure it was the finale, it wasn’t.

30. Theorem: Any suggested change in armaments is immoral, for the change either makes war more terrible, or more likely.

31. Theorem: The expectation for the life of an idea is equal to the time it has already existed without being disproven.

32. Theorem: Two children in the same family are always very different.

33. Corollary: All parents should have at least two children, so that they neither (a) take too much credit for the success of one, or (b) not take too much blame for the other.

34. Theorem: The secret of leadership is to be more consistently right than other people are.

35. Theorem: Most people underestimate the greatness of anyone greater than themselves.

36. Theorem: The trick to learning is enjoying.

37. Corollary: The trick to enjoying something is understanding why others enjoy it.

38. Law of Schoolwork. If you can figure out why the course was created, and why someone once loved the subject, you’ll learn it effortlessly, even with a boring teacher.

39. Law of Boring Classes. Every class was created because somebody loved the subject. Understand that, and apply the Law of Schoolwork.

40. Theorem: Your sense of time is measured in terms of your age.

41. Corollary: The older you get, the closer you get to ancient times.

42. Corollary: History is boring for the young, and fascinating to the old.

43. Corollary: It is more effective to teach the young by emphasizing the present, not the past.