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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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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
Common
Limit
Thought
Contribution
Human
Rational
Humans
Ambition
Rules
Denominator
Limits
Substitute
Behavior
Substitutes
Ability
Lowest

More quotes by Hyman Rickover

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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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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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A system under which it takes three men to check what one is doing is not control it is systematic strangulation.
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What it takes to do a job will not be learned from management courses. It is principally a matter of experience, the proper attitude, and common sense — none of which can be taught in a classroom... Human experience shows that people, not organizations or management systems, get things done.
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Those involved with practical reactors, humbled by their experiences, speak less and worry more.
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Good ideas and innovations must be driven into existence by courage and patience.
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All new ideas begin in a non-conforming mind that questions some tenet of the conventional wisdom.
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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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It troubles me that we are so easily pressured by purveyors of technology into permitting so-called progress to alter our lives without attempting to control it-as if technology were an irrepressible force of nature to which we must meekly submit.
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I have the charisma of the chipmunk. I never have thought I was smart. I thought the people I dealt with were dumb.
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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.
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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.
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As a guide to engineering ethics, I should like to commend to you a liberal adaptation of the injunction contained in the oath of Hippocrates that the professional man do nothing that will harm his client.
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Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous impatience.
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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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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.
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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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Optimism and stupidity are nearly synonymous.
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The Devil is in the details, but so is salvation.
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Human experience shows that people, not organizations or management systems, get things done
Hyman Rickover