"Two-thirds of the Earth's surface is covered with water. The other third is covered with auditors from headquarters."
About Norman Ralph Augustine
Norman Ralph Augustine — Life and Legacy
Norman Ralph Augustine is a prominent figure in the aerospace industry, recognized for his leadership roles and contributions to management philosophy. His work, particularly as the former CEO of Martin Marietta, has shaped how organizations approach innovation and strategic decision-making. Augustine’s core thinking revolves around the intersection of leadership and innovation. He famously stated, 'The best way to predict the future is to invent it,' which encapsulates his belief in proactive engagement with challenges. This perspective encourages leaders to take initiative rather than passively await outcomes, reflecting a mindset that values creativity and foresight. His insights often challenge conventional wisdom, urging leaders to embrace risk and uncertainty as integral to progress. The relevance of Augustine's quotes continues to resonate today, particularly in fast-paced industries where adaptability is crucial. His emphasis on the costs associated with ignorance, as expressed in 'If you think education is expensive, try ignorance,' serves as a reminder of the importance of continuous learning and informed decision-making in achieving sustainable success.
Quote collection
Norman Ralph Augustine quotes (page 1 of 4)
62 quotes — follow a thought to its full quote page.
"Simply stated, it is sagacious to eschew obfuscation."
"Hardware works best when it matters the least."
"Rank does not intimidate hardware. Neither does the lack of rank."
"People do not win people fights. Lawyers do."
"Motivation will almost always beat mere talent."
"The early bird gets the worm. The early worm... gets eaten."
"Software is like entropy. It is difficult to grasp, weighs nothing, and obeys the second law of thermodynamics; i.e. it always increases."
"One of the most feared expressions in modern times is 'The computer is down.'"
"Law Number IX: Acronyms and abbreviations should be used to the maximum extent possible to make trivial ideas profound ... Q.E.D."
"The more time you spend talking about what you have been doing, the less time you have to do what you have been talking about. Eventually, you spend more and more time talking about less and less until finally you spend all of your time talking about nothing."
"One should expect that the expected can be prevented, but the unexpected should have been expected."
"Too often technology is perceived as the problem rather than the solution; as something to be avoided rather than embraced. This is about as logical as my daughter's observing, while our family was driving through an unfamiliar city, "Trying to read a map while driving causes all the traffic lights to turn green.""
"Law Number V: One-tenth of the participants produce over one-third of the output. Increasing the number of participants merely reduces the average output."
"The best way to make a silk purse from a sow's ear is to begin with a silk sow. The same is true of money."
"For every scientific (or engineering) action, there is an equal and opposite social reaction."
"If today were half as good as tomorrow is supposed to be, it would probably be twice as good as yesterday was."
"Decreased business base increases overhead. So does increased business base."
"It is very expensive to achieve high unreliability. It is not uncommon to increase the cost of an item by a factor of ten for each factor of ten degradation accomplished."
"If stock market experts were so expert, they would be buying stock, not selling advice."