But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. — Matthew 12:36-37 Read more →
EppsNet Archive: Quotations
A Timeless Message
He that goeth about to persuade a multitude that they are not so well off as they ought to be, shall never want attentive and favorable hearers. — Richard Hooker, 16th-century English theologian Read more →
Following Directions
I see the history of management as an effort to perfect the instructions that you hope someone will follow this time — even though they have never followed directions in their whole life. — Margaret Wheatley Read more →
Silence equals nonexistence. If I don’t raise my voice, it’s like I never existed. — Margaret Cho
We have to live today by what truth we can get today and be ready tomorrow to call it falsehood. — William James
It may look like a crisis, but it’s only the end of an illusion. — Jerry Weinberg
The Buffalo Bridle
“Well, if you’re going to control buffalo, you got to know two things, and only two things: First is, “You can make buffalo go anywhere, just so long as they want to go there. “And second, “You can keep buffalo out of anywhere, just so long as they don’t want to go there. — Gerald M. Weinberg, The Secrets of Consulting Read more →
No difference plus no difference plus no difference plus … eventually equals a clear difference. — Jerry Weinberg
The Titanic Effect
The thought that disaster is impossible often leads to an unthinkable disaster. — Gerald M. Weinberg, The Secrets of Consulting Read more →
Whatever the Client is Doing, Advise Something Else
People who are close to a problem tend to keep repeating what didn’t work the first time. If it did work, they wouldn’t have called in a consultant. — Gerald M. Weinberg, The Secrets of Consulting Read more →
Make sure they pay you enough so they’ll do what you say. — Jerry Weinberg
It’s Always a People Problem
Even when it’s “really” a technical problem, it can always be traced back to management action or inaction. Even so, the experienced consultant will resist pointing out that it was management who hired all the technical people and is responsible for their development. At the same time, the consultant will look for the people who should have prevented this problem, or dealt with it when it arose. — Gerald M. Weinberg, The Secrets of Consulting Read more →
Before you contradict an old man, my fair friend, you should endeavor to understand him. — George Santayana
When there are many approaches possible, the shortest path to exceeding expectations rarely goes through meeting expectations. — Ward Cunningham
Management by Getting Out of the Way
Sometimes the best management is no management at all — first do no harm! — Bob Sutton Read more →
The Secret of Getting Ahead
The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one. — Mark Twain Read more →
Is it I, God, or who, that lifts this arm? — Captain Ahab
Famous Last Words
The idea of last words is funny to me, because the whole notion of “last words” suggests they matter. Which they don’t, of course, but this hope we carry that there will be some wisdom or some insight at the last moment, other than “Oh, fuck it, fuck this fucking shit” is so sadly human, I just love it. — Shalom Auslander Read more →
Our lives improve only when we take chances and the first and most difficult risk we can take is to be honest with ourselves. — Walter Anderson
Theories Have Four Stages of Acceptance
Theories have four stages of acceptance: i) this is worthless nonsense; ii) this is an interesting, but perverse, point of view; iii) this is true, but quite unimportant; iv) I always said so. — J. B. S. Haldane Read more →