I don't know the author's name, but I remember my younger brother memorizing it in elementary school as:
Excuses, excuses, excuses! Excuses are tools of incompetence that build monuments of nothingness. Those who specialize in them, accomplish nothing at all, but excuses, excuses, excuses.
Not as the first responder suggests here:
"Excuses are monuments of nothingness,
They build bridges to nowhere,
Those of us who us these tools of incompetence,
Seldom become anything but nothing at all."
Steven Grayhm!
The quote was originally found in Poor Richard's Almanac, so basically originated with Benjamin Franklin's publication (nom de plume of Richard Saunders) But since Poor Richard's almanac was a publication gathering information from various sources, the original source may be someone else, uncredited.
Nice try but the actual poem is "Excuses are tools of incompetence, that build monuments of nothingness, and those who specialize in using them seldom do anything else." Excuses are tools of nothingness build bridges that lead to nowhere and are masters of no one.
Hammurabi
Andy Sharpe has written: '365 excuses for being late to work' -- subject(s): Humor, Work ethic, Excuses, Work
Susan Cantwell has written: 'No More Excuses Companion Workbook' 'No more excuses' -- subject(s): Reducing diets, Weight loss
Samuel Gruber has written: 'Survey of historic jewish monuments in ... [country]' 'Survey of historic Jewish monuments in Poland' -- subject(s): Jews, Jewish cemeteries, History, Monuments, Synagogues
George Nama has written: 'Monuments' 'Tightrope'
Pauline E. Routh has written: 'The medieval monuments of Harewood' -- subject(s): All Saints (Church : Harewood, England), Church architecture, Churches, History, Monuments, Sepulchral monuments
Gary M. Szirony has written: 'No fear, no excuses'
Shane Gould has written: 'Monuments Protection Programme'
Vittorio Alinari has written: 'Guide aux monuments'