“In all well-conducted concerns the law of "selection of the fittest" sooner or later comes into happy action, when a loyal and attached set of men work together harmoniously for their own advantage as well as for that of their employers.”
Source: James Nasmyth engineer, 1883, p. 218 (p. 181 in 2010 edition)
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James Nasmyth 9
Scottish mechanical engineer and inventor 1808–1890Related quotes

“Sooner or later, false thinking brings wrong conduct.”
"Religion and Science: Old Wine in New Bottles" in the Traveller's Library (1933) edited by William Somerset Maugham. p. 1248

“They all cheat sooner or later. You might as well have one who isn't a bore the rest of the time.”
How to Save Your Own Life (1977)

Speech delivered in the gardens of the Shaab Hall (May 1, 1959).
Principles of the 14th July Revolution (1959)

Letter to U.S. Attorney General http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mgw:@field(DOCID+@lit(gw300376)) Edmund Randolph (28 September 1789), as published in The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources, 1745-1799 edited by John C. Fitzpatrick
The inscription on the facade of the New York Supreme Court court house in New York County is a misquotation from the above letter: "The true administration of justice is the firmest pillar of good government." See "George Denied His Due" by Bruce Golding, in The New York Post (16 February 2009) http://www.nypost.com/seven/02162009/news/regionalnews/george_denied_his_due_155401.htm
1780s
The Hope of Immortality (Ingersoll Lecture, 1906).

“Great things have been effected by a few men well conducted.”
Letter to Virginia Governor Patrick Henry (1779-02-03), from William Hayden English, Conquest of the Country Northwest of the River Ohio, 1778–1783, and Life of Gen. George Rogers Clark (Indianapolis: Bowen-Merrill, 1896) vol. 1, pp. 262-263
Context: I know the case is desperate, but, sire, we must either quit the country or attack Mr. Hamilton. No time is to be lost. Was I sure of a re-enforcement I should not attempt it. Who knows what fortune will do for us? Great things have been effected by a few men well conducted. Perhaps we may be fortunate. We have this consolation that our case is just, and that our country will be grateful and not condemn our conduct, in case we fall through; if so, this country as well as Kentucky, I believe, is lost.

Speech in Cannon Street Hotel, London (12 December 1930) at the first public meeting of the Indian Empire Society, quoted in Martin Gilbert, Prophet of Truth: Winston S. Churchill, 1922–1939 (London: Minerva, 1990), p. 377
The 1930s