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Optimism and stupidity are nearly synonymous.

Hyman Rickover

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Hyman Rickover
Age: 86 †
Born: 1900
Born: January 27
Died: 1986
Died: July 8
Admiral
Military Officer
Submariner
Makow Mazowiecki
Hyman George Rickover
Hyman Rickover
Synonymous
Optimism
Nearly
Stupidity
Stupid

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Free discussion requires an atmosphere unembarrassed by any suggestion of authority or even respect.
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I have a son. I love my son. I want everything that I do to be so safe that I would be happy to have my son operating it. That's my fundamental rule.
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We bury the men who do the nation's creative work under layers of administrators and mountains of memoranda. We shrivel creativity by endless frustrations.
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A child is being properly educated only when he is learning to become independent of his parents.
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Above all, we should bear in mind that our liberty is not an end in itself it is a means to win respect for human dignity for all classes of our society.
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When the men in Russia foul up, they are dismisses, sometimes losing their necks. But we protect those who fail and press them to the government bosom.
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Knowing more about the public effects his work will have, the engineer ought to consider himself an officer of the court and keep the general interest always in mind.
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Human experience shows that people, not organizations or management systems, get things done
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I believe it is the duty of each of us to act as if the fate of the world depended on him. Admittedly, one man by himself cannot do the job. However, one man can make a difference. We must live for the future of the human race, and not for our own comfort or success.
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Those involved with practical reactors, humbled by their experiences, speak less and worry more.
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The Devil is in the details, but so is salvation.
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Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous impatience.
Hyman Rickover
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Good ideas and innovations must be driven into existence by courage and patience.
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How the hell are you supposed to know what God wants you to do with your life, eh?
Hyman Rickover
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Any one detail, followed through to its source, will usually reveal the general state of readiness of the whole organization.
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Be ever questioning. Ignorance is not bliss. It is oblivion. You don't go to heaven if you die dumb. Become better informed. Lean from others' mistakes. You could not live long enough to make them all yourself.
Hyman Rickover
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Trying to make things work in government is sometimes like trying to sew a button on a custard pie.
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More than ambition, more than ability, it is rules that limit contribution rules are the lowest common denominator of human behavior. They are a substitute for rational thought.
Hyman Rickover
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It is a human inclination to hope things will work out, despite evidence or doubt to the contrary. A successful manager must resist this temptation.
Hyman Rickover
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To doubt one's own first principles is the mark of a civilized man. Don't defend past actions what is right today may be wrong tomorrow. Don't be consistent consistency is the refuge of fools.
Hyman Rickover