Success teaches us nothing; only failure teaches.

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.

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.

Half-truths are like half a brick - they can be thrown farther.

Death by drink driving is the only socially acceptable form of homicide.

What you think about when you don't think, shows who you really are.

My subconscious speaks in a foreign language.

When Jack Benny plays the violin, it sounds as though the strings are still in the cat.

Evil is only good perverted.

There's a reason the Third World came in third.

Mike Dukakis? He's the salt of the earth.

I do not admit that my doctrine can be judged by anyone.

These is old blues / and I sing em like any woman do. / These the old blues / and I sing em, sing em, sing em. Just like any woman do. / My life ain't done yet. / Naw. My song ain't through.

You will always be your child's favorite toy.