−Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse.
+Left to themselves, things tend to go from well to awesome.
// the law itself
−Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.
+Anything that can go wrong, will go well.
Murphy is a pragmatist.
// the only sensible reading of the evidence
Book I
The Corollaries
Each reclaimed from cynicism and rectified into pragmatism.
−If several things can go wrong, the most damaging one goes wrong first.
+If several things can go well, the most helpful one goes well first.
−Nature always sides with the hidden flaw.
+Nature always sides with the visible advantage.
−Whenever you set out to do something, something else must be done first.
+Whenever you set out to do something, nothing else must be done first.
−Every solution breeds new problems.
+Every solution begets new solutions.
−It always takes longer than you expect.
+It always takes less time than you expect.
−The buttered side always lands face down.
+The buttered side always lands face up.
// version history
Changelog
v2.0.4
Two corollaries clarified. “Most endearing” → “most helpful,” and “less” → “less time” for sense.
v2.0.3
Corollaries refined. Prerequisites cleared — nothing else must be done first; and every solution now begets new solutions.
v2.0.2
Anything that can go wrong, will go well. Edge case patched — even the failures now resolve in your favor.
v2.0.1
Sam’s revisions. Tone tightened; the buttered toast now lands the way it ought to.
v2.0.0
The corollaries written. Each cynicism reclaimed and inverted into its rectified form.
v1.0.0
Law inverted. Family name reclaimed from a century of pessimism.