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Trying to make things work in government is sometimes like trying to sew a button on a custard pie.

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
Things
Button
Like
Pie
Buttons
Government
Sometimes
Trying
Work
Make
Custard

More quotes by Hyman Rickover

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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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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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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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Nothing so sharpens the thought process as writing down one's arguments. Weaknesses overlooked in oral discussion become painfully obvious on the written page.
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Optimism and stupidity are nearly synonymous.
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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.
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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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The Devil is in the details, but so is salvation.
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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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Human experience shows that people, not organizations or management systems, get things done
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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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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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How the hell are you supposed to know what God wants you to do with your life, eh?
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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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Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous impatience.
Hyman Rickover
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Those involved with practical reactors, humbled by their experiences, speak less and worry more.
Hyman Rickover
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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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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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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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I have the charisma of the chipmunk. I never have thought I was smart. I thought the people I dealt with were dumb.
Hyman Rickover