Angus Wilson on the joys of running things:

On occasion I wished for the immediate applause given to the acrobat, the pop singer or the tennis star. But perhaps the paid administrator has a more continually pleasant sense of ministration adnot being truly appreciated than any of these.

As he [Nutting, a research worker] said "It never does the administration any harm to be criticized, even when it's done the right thing."

and citing Pope

"For forms of government let fools contest,
What'er is best administered is best."

Angus Wilson. The Old Men at the Zoo. London: Secker & Warburg, 1961