The Illusion of Progress

“We trained hard ... but it seemed that every time we were beginning to form up into teams we would be reorganized. I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing; and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.”

Said by a stressed nurse or doctor on a busy hospital ward? Or by a Member of Parliament after a Cabinet reshuffle?

Neither. Although often and apparently mistakenly attributed to Titus Petronius, Roman Legionnaire, around from 40- 97AD, or even Gaius Petronius Arbiter, 27-66AD, in fact it would seem that it comes from a magazine article written by Charlton Ogburn Jnr.,published by Harper's Magazine in 1957 about his time with Merrill's Marauders, his Brigade in the World War II Burma Campaign.
This was later made into a film, The Marauders (1959), his first person account of that campaign.

Anyway, 27-66AD or 1939-45, some things apparently never change!!
And perhaps we should learn from our experiences instead of blindly copying them again and again.