H.g. Rickover Quotes & Sayings

Responsiblity is a unique concept. It can only reside and inhere in a single individual. You may share it with others, but your portion is not diminished. You may delegate it, but it is still with you. You may disclaim it, but you cannot divest yourself of it. — Hyman Rickover

To Rickover the titles and organization charts meant nothing; only the realities of responsibility mattered.45 — U.S. Government

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

What it takes to do a job will not be learned from management courses. It is principally a matter of experience, the proper attitude, and common sense - none of which can be taught in a classroom ... Human experience shows that people, not organizations or management systems, get things done. — Hyman G. Rickover

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. — Hyman Rickover

Knowing more about the public effects his work will have, the engineer ought to consider himself an "officer of the court" and keep the general interest always in mind. — Hyman Rickover

All men are by nature conservative but conservatism in the military profession is a source of danger to the country. One must be ready to change his line sharply and suddenly, with no concern for the prejudices and memories of what was yesterday. To rest upon formula is a slumber that, prolonged, means death. — Hyman Rickover

Responsibility is a unique concept ... You may share it with others, but your portion is not diminished. You may delegate it, but it is still with you ... If responsibility is rightfully yours, no evasion, or ignorance or passing the blame can shift the burden to someone else. Unless you can point your finger at the man who is responsible when something goes wrong, then you have never had anyone really responsible. — Hyman G. Rickover

Optimism and stupidity are nearly synonymous. — Hyman G. Rickover

The devil is in the details, and everything we do in the military is a detail. — Hyman Rickover

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. — Hyman Rickover

The job has not been done to Admiral Hyman Rickover's specifications. He admonished, "Nature is not as forgiving as Christ. — Bernd Heinrich

To doubt one's own first principles is the mark of a civilized man. Don't defend past actions; what is right today may be wrong tomorrow. Don't be consistent; consistency is the refuge of fools. — Hyman Rickover

The Devil is in the details, but so is salvation. — Hyman G. Rickover

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. — Hyman G. Rickover

Act as if you are going to live for ever and cast your plans way ahead. You must feel responsible without time limitations, and the consideration of whether you may or may not be around to see the results should never enter your thoughts. — Hyman George Rickover

They all have excellent resumes ... So what I'm trying to find out is how they will behave under pressure. — Hyman G. Rickover

The tools of the academic designer are a piece of paper and a pencil with an eraser. If a mistake is made, it can always be erased and changed. If the practical-reactor designer errs, he wears the mistake around his neck; it cannot be erased. Everyone sees it. — Hyman Rickover

Nothing so sharpens the thought process as writing down one's arguments. Weaknesses overlooked in oral discussion become painfully obvious on the written page. — Hyman G. Rickover

We bury the men who do the nation's creative work under layers of administrators and mountains of memoranda. We shrivel creativity by endless frustrations. — Hyman Rickover

As a guide to engineering ethics, I should like to commend to you a liberal adaptation of the injunction contained in the oath of Hippocrates that the professional man do nothing that will harm his client. — Hyman Rickover

Those involved with practical reactors, humbled by their experiences, speak less and worry more. — Hyman Rickover

Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous patience. — Hyman Rickover

A child is being properly educated only when he is learning to become independent of his parents. — Hyman Rickover

Free discussion requires an atmosphere unembarrassed by any suggestion of authority or even respect. — Hyman Rickover

I believe it is the duty of each of us to act as if the fate of the world depended on him. Admittedly, one man by himself cannot do the job. However, one man can make a difference. We must live for the future of the human race, and not for our own comfort or success. — Hyman G. Rickover

Sit down before fact with an open mind. Be prepared to give up every preconceived notion. Follow humbly wherever and to whatever abyss Nature leads or you learn nothing. Don't push out figures when facts are going in the opposite direction. — Hyman G. Rickover

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

Thoughts arising from practical experience may be a bridle or a spur. — Hyman Rickover

A system under which it takes three men to check what one is doing is not control; it is systematic strangulation. — Hyman Rickover