Sturgeon's Law

American science fiction author Theodore Sturgeon first formulated the adage at a 1951 or 1952 lecture at New York University, then popularized it at the 1953 WorldCon science-fiction convention. The phrase first appeared in print in the September 1957 issue of Venture magazine. Sturgeon coined it while defending science fiction against critics who dismissed the entire genre as low-quality, countering that "ninety percent of everything is crud"—a rejoinder emphasizing that most work in any field, not just science fiction, is mediocre.