Plan Fail

The other night in a TV news story, I heard someone attribute a quotation to Benjamin Franklin: “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”

I need to google whether it is generally thought to be a Franklin quote. He did have a few pithy ones, my favorite being: “Fish and visitors begin to stink after three days.”

But to return to the first one. I find an inherent illogic in this, perhaps derived from my watching the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “I, Mudd.” In it, our Starfleet friends, with the help of Harry Mudd, seek to shut down the androids by presenting them with surreal illogic. What Norman, the “leader” of the androids, finally succumbs to are the mutually exclusive statements, “Everything Harry says is a lie,” and “I am lying to you now.” If everything is a lie, zaaap!

I think this fail and plan quote is the same. Yes, I know what it intends to mean—if you fail to plan, that translates into having a plan to fail. But if that then is indeed a plan, then you have planned, and the statement does not work. Norman, coordinate!