Quote #37

They all have excellent resumes... So what I'm trying to find out is how they will behave under pressure. Will they lie, or bluff, or panic, or wilt? Or will they continue to function with some modicum of competence and integrity?

More from Hyman G. Rickover

  1. Administration is, or ought to be, a necessary overhead to aid production, and should at all times be kept as low as possible.
  2. Everything new endangers something old. A new machine replaces human hands; a new source of power threatens old businesses; a new trade rou…
  3. Develop the capacity to learn from experience.
  4. At any moment during a twenty-four-hour day, only one-third of the people in the world are asleep. The other two-thirds are awake and creat…
  5. Require adherence to the concept of total responsibility.
  6. Fish don't vote!
  7. Respect even small amounts of radiation.
  8. Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous patience.

All Hyman G. Rickover quotes