1. Communication usually fails, except by accident.
2. If communication can fail, it will.
3. If communication cannot fail, it still most usually fails.
4. If communication seems to succeed in the intended way, there’s a misunderstanding.
5. If you are content with your message, communication certainly fails.
6. If a message can be interpreted in several ways, it will be interpreted in a manner that maximizes the damage.
7. There is always someone who knows better than you what you meant with your message.
8. The more we communicate; the worse communication succeeds.
9. The more we communicate; the faster misunderstandings propagate.
10. In mass communication, the important thing is not how things are but how they seem to be.
11. The importance of a news item is inversely proportional to the square of the distance.
12. The more important the situation is, the more probable you had forgotten an essential thing that you remembered a moment ago.

The greatest problem with communication is the illusion that it has been accomplished. —William H. Whyte

I was told as a lieutenant- communication sent does not equal communication received. Never forgot it…and it became increasingly evident as I grew older.   —Shannon Huffman Polson (one of the first women to fly the Apache helicopter in the U.S. Army)

“In explaining any puzzling Washington phenomenon, always choose stupidity over conspiracy, incompetence over cunning. Anything else gives them too much credit.” ― Charles Krauthammer (1950-2018)