George Doriot, US executive, founder of American R & D (1899-1987)
Once an organisation loses its spirit of pioneering and rests on its early work, its progress stops.
Thomas J Watson, US businessman, founder of IBM (1874-1956)
Don’t try to innovate for the future. Innovate for the present.
Peter Drucker, US management author (1909-2005)
We should do something when people say it is crazy. If people say something is ‘good’, it means someone else is already doing it.
Hajime Mitarai, Japanese electronics businessman (1938-1995)
In England an inventor is regarded almost as a crazy man, and in too many instances invention ends in disappointment and poverty. In America an inventor is honoured, help is forthcoming, and the exercise of ingenuity, the application of science to the work of man, is there the shortest road to wealth.
Oscar Wilde, Irish dramatist, poet (1854-1900)
Originality is a thing we constantly clamour for, and constantly quarrel with.
Thomas Carlyle, British essayist, historian (1795-1881)
Things don’t turn up in this world until somebody turns them up.
James A Garfield, US President (1831-1881)
A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.
Max Planck, German physicist (1858-1947)
Invention is the mother of necessity.
Thorstein Veblen, US economist, social scientist (1857-1929)
Why, the greatest invention in history is the safety pin. The second greatest is perforated toilet paper.
Herbert Khaury, known as Tiny Tim, US entertainer (1932-1996)
My father worked for the same firm for twelve years. They fired him. They replaced him with a tiny gadget this big. It does everything that my father does, only it does it much better. The depressing thing is my mother ran out and bought one.
Allen Stewart Konigsberg, known as Woody Allen, US film actor, director (b. 1935)
Integrity
We must adjust to changing times and still hold to unchanging principles.
Jimmy Carter, US President (b. 1924)
Always do right! This will gratify some people and astonish the rest.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known as Mark Twain, US author (1835-1910)
Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
Thomas Jonathan ‘Stonewall’ Jackson, US general (1824-1863)
So act that your principle of action might safely be made a law for the whole world.
Immanuel Kant, German philosopher (1724-1804)
All ambitions are lawful, except those that climb upward on the miseries or credulities of mankind.
Joseph Conrad, Polish/British author (1857-1924)
No-one can earn a million dollars honestly.
William Jennings Bryan, US statesman (1860-1925)
The measure of a man’s character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.
Thomas Babington Macaulay, British historian, essayist (1800-1859)
Character is doing what’s right when nobody’s looking.
J C Watts, US politician (b. 1957)
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
Martin Luther King Jr, US civil rights leader (1929-1968)
I either want less corruption, or more chance to participate in it.
Ashleigh Brilliant, British philosopher, author (b. 1933)
It is easier to fight for one’s principles than to live up to them.
Alfred Adler, Austrian psychiatrist (1870-1937)
These are my principles. If you don’t like them I have others.
Julius Henry ‘Groucho’ Marx, US comic actor (1890-1977)
Internet
The Internet crosses borders and oceans with daredevil ease. There is no greater challenge to a parochial outlook than a day or two monitoring message traffic in this ongoing worldwide conversation.
Paul Gilster, US science author (b. 1949)
Email is reincarnating the age of letter-writing. We’re keeping in touch the way the Victorians did, building a personal community connected by a constant stream of letters sharing news and gossip. Email is reviving the ‘letter’ as a forum for wit, style, and personality, as well as an invaluable business tool.
Leslie Schroeder, US public relations executive
Stop thinking about it as the ‘information superhighway’ and start thinking about it as the ‘marketing superhighway’. Doesn’t it sound better already?
Don Logan, US media executive, Time Inc (b. 1944)
The Internet is a perfect diversion from learning – it opens many doors that lead to empty rooms.
Cliff Stoll, US astronomer (b. 1950)
The Internet is an elite organisation; most of the population of the world has never even made a phone call.
Noam Chomsky, US linguist, political activist (b. 1928)
The greatest asset of this worldwide electronic network, covering millions of individuals and organisations, is the ease with which you can establish a direct relationship with one person.
David Williams, British author, presenter (b. 1950)
We’ve all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually produce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.
Eyler Coates, US librarian (1930-2002)
Involvement
Tell me and I’ll forget.
Teach me and I’ll remember.
Involve me and I’ll learn.
W Edwards Deming, US statistician, author (1900-1993)
People tend to resist that which is thrust upon them. They tend to support that which they help create.
Vince Pfaff
Retention boils down to basic practices. A company that engages its people at all levels and in all ways is a company that keeps them.
Barbara Ettorre, US management consultant
Nobody’s ever insulted to be invited.
Mrs Leonard Lyons
Flow is a state of self-forgetfulness, the opposite of rumination and worry; instead of being lost in nervous preoccupation, people in flow are so absorbed in the task at hand that they lose all self-consciousness, dropping the small preoccupations – health, bills, even doing well – of daily life.