“First-rate people hire first-rate people; second-rate people hire third-rate people”

“First-rate people hire first-rate people; second-rate people hire third-rate people” is a business saying meaning that one should always hire the best people. Leo Rosten (1908-1997), an author of books in several fields, was quoted as saying in 1970, “First-rate men hire first-rate men; second-rate men hire third-rate men.” This was titled “Rosten’s Law.”
 
“First-rate people hire first-rate people; second-rate people hire third-rate people” was called “Rosten’s maxim” in 1971. Although the origin Rosten saying included “men,” this is replaced by “people” in most versions.
 
   
Wikipedia: Leo Rosten
Leo Calvin Rosten (April 11, 1908 - February 19, 1997) was born in Łódź, Russian Empire (now Poland) and died in New York City. He was a teacher and academic, but is best known as a humorist in the fields of scriptwriting, storywriting, journalism and Yiddish lexicography.
 
Google News Archive
25 April 1970, The Financial Post (Canada), “Quote…Unquote,” pg. 6, col. 5:
Rosten’s Law, proclaimed by Leo Calvin Rosten, the U.S. author and political scientist:
“First-rate men hire first-rate men; second-rate men hire third-rate men.”
   
Google Books
3 March 1971, Palm Beach (FL) Post, “Savoir Femme” by Barbara Somerville, pg. B1, col. 3:
Remember first-rate people hire first-rate people; second-rate people hire third-rate people. Hire the best you can.
 
18 April 1971, Sunday Register-Star (Rockford, IL), “Working women, take note!” by Robert Townsend (Gannett News Service Special), pg. C1, col. 7:
RULES FOR HIRING
When you get further along, remember Leo Rosten’s maxim: “First-rate people hire first-rate people; second-rate people hire third-rate people.” Hire the best you can.
 
Google Books
Go Hire Yourself an Employer
By Richard K. Irish
Garden City, NY: Anchor Books
1973
Pg. 65:
Strong people surround themselves with highly competent and disparate staff. First-rate people hire first-rate people. Second-rate people hire third-rate people.
 
Google Books
The Entrepreneur’s Manual:
Business start-ups, spin-offs, and innovative management
By Richard M. White
Radnor, PA: Chilton Book Co.
1977
Pg. 74:
AXIOM EIGHT
FIRST RATE MEN HIRE FIRST RATE MEN…SECOND RATE MEN HIRE THIRD RATE MEN…THESE THIRD RATE MEN WILL THEN EMPLOY THE BULK OF YOUR COMPANY’S EMPLOYEES AND THEY TEND TO SELECT FOURTH RATE PEOPLE.
 
Google Books
Personnel Management in Government:
Politics and Process
By Jay M, Shafritz, Albert C. Hyde and David H. Rosenbloom
New York, NY: M. Dekker
1986
Pg. 177:
Leo Rosten’s Maxim
When you get farther along, remember Leo Rosten’s maxim: “First-rate people hire first-rate people; second-rate people hire third-rate people.”
 
Google Books
Five Frogs on a Log:
A CEO’s Field Guide to Accelerating the Transition in Mergers, Acquisitions, and Gut Wrenching Change
By Mark L. Feldman and Michael F. Spratt
New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
1999
Pg. 165:
As one exasperated executive put it, “In all my years of hiring and firing, I’ve learned one important thing: first-rate people hire first-rate people, second-rate people hire third-rate people, and third-rate people hire morons.”