Recommended quotes
page 20

“A business of high principle generates greater drive and effectiveness because people know that they can do the right thing decisively and with confidence.”

Marvin Bower (1903–2003) American business theorist

Source: The Will to Manage (1966), p. 25

“A business of high principle attracts high-caliber people more easily, thereby gaining a basic competitive and profit edge.”

Marvin Bower (1903–2003) American business theorist

Source: The Will to Manage (1966), p. 25

“In large-scale organizations, the factual approach must be constantly nurtured by high-level executives. The more layers of authority through which facts must pass before they reach the decision maker, the greater the danger that they will be suppressed, modified, or softened, so as not to displease the "brass". For this reason, high-level executives must keep reaching for facts or soon they won't know what is going on. Unless they make visible efforts to seek and act on facts, major problems will not be brought to their attention, the quality of their decisions will decline, and the business will gradually get out of touch with its environment.”

Marvin Bower (1903–2003) American business theorist

Source: The Will to Manage (1966), p. 31

“The business with high ethical standards has three primary advantages over competitors whose standards are lower:”

Marvin Bower (1903–2003) American business theorist

A business of high principle generates greater drive and effectiveness because people know they can do the right thing decisively and with confidence. ...
A business of high principle attracts high-caliber people more easily, thereby gaining a basic competitive and profit edge. ...
A business of high principle develops better and more profitable relations with customers, competitors, and the general public, because it can be counted on to do the right thing at all times. By the consistently ethical character of its actions, it builds a favorable image.
Source: The Will to Manage (1966), p. 26

“I believe that in a leadership company most people will like their work. But the company will be an even more enjoyable place to work if the culture is designed to make it that way. Leading fosters a working atmosphere that stimulates an open exchange of ideas and fosters dissent. People should show a genuine concern for one another and treat one another with fairness, as peers and friends. With such an atmosphere it should be a pleasure to come to work.”

Marvin Bower (1903–2003) American business theorist

Source: The Will to Manage (1966), p. 131

“Good to know that if I ever need attention all I have to do is die.”

Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) American poet, novelist and short story writer

“This type of man who is devoted to the study of wisdom is always most unlucky in everything, and particularly when it comes to procreating children; I imagine this is because Nature wants to ensure that the evils of wisdom shall not spread further throughout mankind.”

Desiderius Erasmus book The Praise of Folly

The Praise of Folly (1511)

“I would like to be known as a person who is concerned about freedom and equality and justice and prosperity for all people.”

Rosa Parks (1913–2005) African-American civil rights activist

Quoted in "Women of the Hall: Rosa Parks," http://womenshalloffame.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=117 Women's National Hall of Fame (undated); said upon her 77th birthday (1990-02-04)

“Each person must live their life as a model for others.”

Rosa Parks (1913–2005) African-American civil rights activist

“I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free… so other people would be also free.”

Rosa Parks (1913–2005) African-American civil rights activist

“I believe we are here on the planet Earth to live, grow up and do what we can to make this world a better place for all people to enjoy freedom.”

Rosa Parks (1913–2005) African-American civil rights activist

“We reject: kings, presidents and voting.
We believe in: rough consensus and running code.”

David Clark (1944) American computer scientist

A Cloudy Crystal Ball -- Visions of the Future, PDF, 1992-07-16, 2016-05-13 https://groups.csail.mit.edu/ana/People/DDC/future_ietf_92.pdf, (Presentation given at the 24th Internet Engineering Task Force) <br class="br">frequently cited as the motto of the Internet engineering community

“Unhappy am I because this has happened to me.- Not so, but happy am I, though this has happened to me, because I continue free from pain, neither crushed by the present nor fearing the future.”

Marcus Aurelius book Meditations

Source: Meditations

“What we really want to do is to be left alone. We don't want Negroes around. We don't need Negroes around. We're not asking— you know, we don't want to have them, you know, for our culture. We simply want our own country and our own society. That's in no way exploitive at all. We want our own society, our own nation….”

David Duke (1950) American White nationalist, white supremacist, writer, right-wing politician, and a former Republican Louisiana …

Interview with Evelyn Rich (March 1985)

“If once again Germany destabilizes Europe, then Germany will be not be divided again, but wiped off the map. East and West have the necessary technology in order to enforce this verdict. If Germany begins again, there is no other solution.”

Lech Wałęsa (1943) Polish politician, Nobel Peace Prize winner, former President of Poland

Wenn Deutschland noch einmal Europa destabilisiert dann wird Deutschland nicht mehr geteilt, sondern von der Landkarte gefegt werden. Ost und West haben die notwendige Technik, um dieses Verdikt auch vollstrecken zu können. Wenn Deutschland wieder anfängt, bleibt keine andere Lösung. - From the report of the German magazine DER SPIEGEL 15/1990 http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-13498691.html about an interview of Wałęsa by Dutch weekly Elsevier http://www.elsevier.nl/ of 7 April 1990, which was partially reprinted, with an additional Pancho caricature http://wissen.spiegel.de/wissen/image/show.html?did=13498691&aref=image036/2006/05/15/cq-sp199001502800280.pdf&thumb=false, by French Le Monde http://www.lemonde.fr/

“In dealing with those who share his bed, the enlightened ruler may enjoy their beauty but should not listen to their special pleas…”

Han Fei (-279–-232 BC) Chinese philosopher

明君之於內也，娛其色而不行其謁，不使私請。
Source: from "The Eight Villanies", Han Fei Tzu: Basic Writings, Columbia University Press, New York, 1996. Translated by Burton Watson.