“Everybody's daily life consists of problems arising from what you decided yesterday. Managers understand that. Mathematicians want to solve a theorem, publish the results and walk away clean. Managers never walk away clean. The real world is a very dirty place.
Clarity is supposed to be the objective of science. I disagree. I think the objective of science is confusion, because confusions carries you into problems.”

— C. West Churchman

C. West Churchman cited in: Peter R. Horner (1993). "TIMS Turns 40," in: OR/MS Today, Vol. 20, No. 2, p. 40-43
1980s and later

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Everybody's daily life consists of problems arising from what you decided yesterday. Managers understand that. Mathemat…" by C. West Churchman?

C. West Churchman 64

American philosopher and systems scientist 1913–2004

Related quotes

“Managers are not confronted with problems that are independent of each other, but with dynamic situations that consist of complex systems of changing problems that interact with each other. I call such situations messes. Problems are extracted from messes by analysis. Managers do not solve problems, they manage messes.”

Russell L. Ackoff (1919–2009) Scientist

Cited in Donella Meadows (2008) Thinking in Systems: a Primer. p. 1.
1970s, The future of operational research is past, 1979

“You would have to ask a physicist really but I think understanding fundamental problems in physics is very important because they are part of our culture. You just never know what is going to come from it. If you had told Isaac Newton about spaceships and satellites that arise from his laws of gravity, it would have been science fiction to him.”

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (1952) Nobel prize winning American and British structural biologist

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan interview: 'It takes courage to tackle very hard problems in science

“I then reached for a time honored tactic used by mathematicians: if you can't solve the real problem, change it into one you can solve.”

Mark Kac (1914–1984) Polish-American mathematician

Source: Enigmas Of Chance (1985), Chapter 6, Cornell II, p. 122.

“In reactive problem solving we walk into the future facing the past — we move away from, rather than toward, something. This often results in unforseen consequences that are more distasteful than the deficiencies removed.”

Russell L. Ackoff (1919–2009) Scientist

1970s, The Art of Problem Solving, 1978

“You have a walking stick. Suppose it could walk by itself, and that it chose to walk away from you. […] It would no longer be a walking stick at all, only a stick that walked.”

Gene Wolfe (1931–2019) American science fiction and fantasy writer

Volume 3, Ch. 13
Fiction, The Book of the Short Sun (1999–2001)

“The principle of bounded rationality [is] the capacity of the human mind for formulating and solving complex problems is very small compared with the size of the problems whose solution is required for objectively rational behavior in the real world — or even for a reasonable approximation to such objective rationality.”

Herbert A. Simon book Administrative Behavior

Variant: The principle of bounded rationality [is] the capacity of the human mind for formulating and solving complex problems is very small compared with the size of the problems whose solution is required for objectively rational behavior in the real world — or even for a reasonable approximation to such objective rationality.
Source: 1940s-1950s, Administrative Behavior, 1947, p. 198.

“Do you think it's dirty money?
-All money is dirty. If it were clean nobody would want it.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafón book The Angel's Game

Source: The Angel's Game

“When people abuse you, you must walk away. When you have to work with people throwing dirt at you on a daily basis, you walk away.”

Patricia de Lille (1951) Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure

Source: On 31 October 2018, when she announced her resignation as mayor of Cape Town in front of the Western Cape High Court, Cape Town. As quoted by Noloyiso Mtembu in Patricia De Lille goes out guns blazing https://www.iol.co.za/weekend-argus/news/patricia-de-lille-goes-out-guns-blazing-17718926, Independent Online, (31 October 2018)

“You seem to be wanting
everything yesterday.
Always the impossible.
That's what you seem to portray.
Give me one good reason
why even if I stay,
you won't walk away from me
tomorrow. Today.”

Gilbert O'Sullivan (1946) Irish singer-songwriter

"Tomorrow, Today" (song)
Gilbert O'Sullivan, "Tomorrow, Today" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ai9Bp-w04vU (song on YouTube)
Song lyrics

“Management is a distinct process consisting of planning, organising, actuating and controlling; utilising in each both science and art, and followed in order to accomplish pre-determined objectives.”

George R. Terry (1909–1979)

As cited in: S.P. Singh (2003), Planning And Management For Rural Development, p. 8
Principles of Management, 1960
Variant: Management is a distinct process consisting of planning, organizing, actuating and controlling, performed to determine and accomplish the objectives by the use of people and resources.

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

C. West Churchman 64

Related quotes

Related topics