Arthur Bloch

Arthur Bloch – Life, Work, and Memorable Quotes

Arthur Bloch (born January 1, 1948) is an American humorist and writer best known for his Murphy’s Law series and satirical self-help. Discover his biography, works, philosophy, and famous quotes.

Introduction

Arthur Bloch is a writer whose wit and cynicism have touched millions. Best known for elaborating on Murphy’s Law—that “whatever can go wrong, will go wrong”—he turned that kernel into a long-running series of humorous books, calendars, and observations on life’s absurdities. But Bloch’s work extends beyond mere quips: he also produced the PBS series Thinking Allowed, and penned a satirical self-help title, Healing Yourself with Wishful Thinking. In short, he uses humor both as entertainment and as a lens through which to see our everyday foibles.

Early Life & Background

Arthur Bloch was born on January 1, 1948 in the United States. Murphy’s Law.

He currently lives in Oakland, California.

Career and Major Works

Murphy’s Law Series

Bloch’s signature contribution is the Murphy’s Law books. The original title is Murphy’s Law and Other Reasons Why Things Go WRONG!, with the word “WRONG!” intentionally printed upside-down on the cover. Murphy’s Law: Doctors, Murphy’s Law: Lawyers), calendars, and more.

His Murphy’s Law works often adopt a tone of wry, ironic observation—turning frustrating or unlucky events into shared humor and resigned acceptance.

Healing Yourself with Wishful Thinking

Beyond Murphy’s Law, Bloch wrote a satirical self-help book titled Healing Yourself with Wishful Thinking. In it, he applies the same humorous sensibility to the self-help genre, poking fun at the idea that positive thinking alone can “heal” life’s problems.

Television: Thinking Allowed

From 1986 to 2002, Arthur Bloch served as producer and director of Thinking Allowed, a PBS series.

Other Ventures and Interests

In addition to writing and television, Bloch has dabbled in design and web ventures. For example, he operated Hypersphere Design, an internet design company.

Style & Themes

• Humor as lens: Bloch’s work often reveals how human plans, expectations, and ambitions collide with life’s unpredictability. He uses exaggeration, irony, and inversion to highlight the absurdities in everyday experience.

• Skeptical optimism: While he points out what goes wrong, there’s an undercurrent of resilience—humor as coping.

• Self-aware satire: His satirical take on self-help suggests he sees many conventional “solutions” to life’s problems as naive or incomplete.

• Accessibility: His books are written in clear, punchy language, ideal for general audiences rather than academic readers.

Famous Quotes of Arthur Bloch

Here are some of Bloch’s wittiest and most resonant lines:

“Enough research will tend to support your conclusions.” “Every solution breeds new problems.” “Friends come and go but enemies accumulate.” “If your project doesn’t work, look for the part that you didn’t think was important.” “Don’t force it... get a bigger hammer.” “The compromise will always be more expensive than either of the suggestions it is compromising.” “A computer program does what you tell it to do, not what you want it to do.”

These quotes reflect his mixture of dry humor, sardonic truth, and an eye for how things tend to go awry.

Legacy & Influence

• Popularizing Murphy’s Law culture: Bloch turned a folk adage into a major publishing brand. His many editions and spin-offs helped embed Murphy’s Law deeper into popular culture.

• Humor writers & aphorismists: He belongs in the lineage of humorists who distill life into short, memorable lines.

• Commentary on human frailty: His work continually points out how small oversights, unintended consequences, and misaligned intentions undercut our designs.

• Satire of self-improvement culture: His self-help satire challenges the assumptions many hold about positive thinking, personal transformation, and formulaic solutions.

Though Bloch is not typically studied in academic circles, his voice resonates among readers who appreciate humor, irony, and the comic side of human life.

Lessons from Arthur Bloch

1. Laugh at what goes wrong
   Sometimes the best response to life’s failures is to frame them humorously rather than let frustration fester.

2. Don’t overestimate control
   Many of Bloch’s aphorisms caution that our plans, no matter how careful, often collide with randomness.

3. Question “self-help” dogmas
   His satire reminds us to be critical of simple prescriptions and overblown promises.

4. Clarity is powerful
   Short, sharp sentences—his stock in trade—can capture more than long explanations.

5. Observe the small things
   Many of his insights come from noticing minor misalignments (a project part nobody cared about, software doing exactly what was told)—these small cracks often reveal larger truths.

Conclusion

Arthur Bloch shows that humor—especially the kind that acknowledges failure, error, and imperfection—can also be a kind of wisdom. His Murphy’s Law books made us grin at life’s unpredictability, while his satire poked holes in overconfidence and self-help fads. He invites us to hold our expectations lightly, to step back and chuckle at our human foibles, and to accept that sometimes, the wrong turn is part of the journey.