Barbara Tuchman Quotes

Why are so many companies stuck in this factory model of working?

To err is human, but to really foul things up you need a computer.

When a machine begins to run without human aid, it is time to scrap it - whether it be a factory or a government.

If Christ has risen the Bible is true from Genesis to Revelation. The kingdom of darkness has been overthrown. Satan has fallen like lightning from heaven; and the triumph of truth over error, of good over evil, of happiness over misery, is forever secured.

We're not steadfast about not repeating mistakes.

Genius is the error in the system.

Nothing is more dangerous in practice, than an obstinate, unbending adherence to a system, particularly in its application to the wants and errors of mankind.

Pick at random any three letters from the alphabet, put them in any order, and you will have an acronym designating a federal agency we can do without.

Without computers, the government would be unable to function at the level of effectiveness and efficiency that we have come to expect. . . . Today's government uses computers which are capable of cranking out millions of documents per day without any regard whatsoever for their content, thereby freeing government employees for more important responsibilities, such as not answering their phones.

Of new acquaintances one can never be sure because one likes them one day that it will be so the next. Of old friends one is sure that it will be the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Anything devised by man has bureaucracy, corrpution and error hardwired at inception.

Don't carry logs into the forest.

In our complex world, there cannot be fruitful initiative without government, but unfortunately there can be government without initiative.

God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, but we are not. Each day, ours is the challenge to access the power of the Atonement so that we can truly change, become more Christlike, and qualify for the gift of exaltation and live eternally with God, Jesus Christ, and our families. For these powers, privileges, and gospel gifts, thanks be to God!

We do not ask the mountain's aid to crack a walnut.

To desire immortality for the individual is really the same as wanting to perpetuate an error forever.

Human beings were given a left foot and a right foot to make a mistake first to the left, then to the right, left again and repeat.

Unfortunately, the more complex the system, the greater the room for error.

A teacher that can be replaced by a machine should be.

How our government works... it doesn't.

Redundancy is expensive but indispensable.

The people who are unemployed want to do the work, but the system is such a catastrophic failure that it cannot bring together idle hands and work. This is all hailed as a great success, and it is a great success - for a very small sector of the population.

When I finish a first draft, it's always just as much of a mess as it's always been. I still make the same mistakes every time.

A bureaucrat's idea of cleaning up his files is to make a copy of every paper before he destroys it.