Hyman G. Rickover

“Anything that is theoretically possible will be accomplished in practice, if it is desired. It is only a matter of time.”

“An academic is a man who knows more and more about less and less.”

“All new ideas are resisted... and should be. They must be starved by indifference for a time until they are proved to have merit.”

“The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war.”

“Human experience shows that people, not organizations or management systems, get things done.”

“You must have the courage to make mistakes. You must have the courage to fail.”

“Freedom is not a gift, it is a reward for vigilance and hard work.”

“To be successful, you must submerge your ego.”

“I believe it is the duty of each of us to act as if the fate of the world depended on him.”

“The man in charge must concern himself with details. If he does not consider them important, neither will his subordinates.”

“Responsibility is a unique concept... You may share it with others, but your portion is not diminished. You may delegate it, but it is still with you... If responsibility is rightfully yours, no evasion, or ignorance or passing the blame can shift the burden to someone else.”

“Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous impatience.”

“If you are going to sin, sin against God, not the bureaucracy. God will forgive you but the bureaucracy won't.”

“The devil is in the details, but so is salvation.”

“When doing a job—any job—one must feel that he owns it, and to it he must give his best. A man who does a sloppy job is a cheat.”

“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.”

“Knowledge is not skill. Knowledge, plus ten thousand times, is skill.”

“To have a successful new program, you must have one person in charge. If you have two, you don't have a program.”