I have a son. I love my son. I want everything that I do to be so safe that I would be happy to have my son operating it. That's my fundamental rule.

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

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

Success teaches us nothing; only failure teaches.

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

It is a human inclination to hope things will work out, despite evidence or doubt to the contrary. A successful manager must resist this temptation.

Any one detail, followed through to its source, will usually reveal the general state of readiness of the whole organization.

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.

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.

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

All new ideas begin in a non-conforming mind that questions some tenet of the conventional wisdom.

Just give me a thousand words and you may make your own pictures.

I spent the day running through the woods like a wild animal. Being chased by you is the only thing that would have made it more romantic.

My illusion, the idea of a soul mate, was so entrenched in my fantasy that the thought of letting him go, wrecked me.

To apologize for what you most wanted to do, to concede that it was obnoxious, boring, 'vulgar and unsafe' --- that was the worst thing.

I know Raft did have some genuine affairs with actresses.

Well, acting has been a dream of mine since I can remember; being in the movies and acting, having those experiences.

Can't get around the old minimum wage, Mortimer.

Follow your genius closely enough, and it will not fail to show you a fresh prospect every hour.

The greatest height of heroism to which an individual, like a people, can attain is to know how to face ridicule.

A lot of kids spent more time out of school than in, but I always loved school and thought it was my way out of Cleveland, and out of poverty.