Hyman Rickover Quotes

“Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous patience.”

— Hyman Rickover

“Above all, we should bear in mind that our liberty is not an end in itself; it is a means to win respect for human dignity for all classes of our society.”

— Hyman Rickover

Trying to make things work in government is sometimes like trying to sew a button on a custard pie.

— Hyman Rickover

“When the men in Russia foul up, they are dismisses, sometimes losing their necks. But we protect those who fail and press them to the government bosom.”

— Hyman Rickover

“The man in charge must concern himself with details. If he does not consider them important, neither will his subordinates.”

— Hyman Rickover

“Any one detail, followed through to its source, will usually reveal the general state of readiness of the whole organization.”

— Hyman Rickover

“It is a human inclination to hope things will work out, despite evidence or doubt to the contrary. A successful manager must resist this temptation.”

— Hyman Rickover

“All new ideas begin in a non-conforming mind that questions some tenet of the conventional wisdom.”

— Hyman Rickover

“In Greek mythology, Antaeus was a giant who was strong as long as he had contact with the earth. When he was lifted from the earth he lost strength. So it is with engineers. They must not become isolated from the real world.”

— Hyman Rickover

“A child is being properly educated only when he is learning to become independent of his parents.”

— Hyman Rickover

“Good ideas and innovations must be driven into existence by courage and patience.”

— Hyman Rickover

“All men are by nature conservative but conservatism in the military profession is a source of danger to the country. One must be ready to change his line sharply and suddenly, with no concern for the prejudices and memories of what was yesterday. To rest upon formula is a slumber that, prolonged, means death.”

— Hyman Rickover

“As a guide to engineering ethics, I should like to commend to you a liberal adaptation of the injunction contained in the oath of Hippocrates that the professional man do nothing that will harm his client.”

— Hyman Rickover

“Those involved with practical reactors, humbled by their experiences, speak less and worry more.”

— Hyman Rickover

“Knowing more about the public effects his work will have, the engineer ought to consider himself an "officer of the court" and keep the general interest always in mind.”

— Hyman Rickover

The tools of the academic designer are a piece of paper and a pencil with an eraser. If a mistake is made, it can always be erased and changed. If the practical-reactor designer errs, he wears the mistake around his neck; it cannot be erased. Everyone sees it.

— Hyman Rickover

“Thoughts arising from practical experience may be a bridle or a spur.”

— Hyman Rickover

“To doubt one's own first principles is the mark of a civilized man. Don't defend past actions; what is right today may be wrong tomorrow. Don't be consistent; consistency is the refuge of fools.”

— Hyman Rickover

“A system under which it takes three men to check what one is doing is not control; it is systematic strangulation.”

— Hyman Rickover

Half-truths are like half a brick - they can be thrown farther.

— Hyman Rickover

I do not have regrets. I believe I helped preserve the peace for this country. Why should I regret that? What I accomplished was approved by Congress - which represents our people. All of you live in safety from domestic enemies because of security from the police. Likewise, you live in safety from foreign enemies because our military keeps them from attacking us.

— Hyman Rickover

“It troubles me that we are so easily pressured by purveyors of technology into permitting so-called "progress" to alter our lives without attempting to control it-as if technology were an irrepressible force of nature to which we must meekly submit.”

— Hyman Rickover

“The devil is in the details, and everything we do in the military is a detail.”

— Hyman Rickover

“We bury the men who do the nation's creative work under layers of administrators and mountains of memoranda. We shrivel creativity by endless frustrations.”

— Hyman Rickover

How the hell are you supposed to know what God wants you to do with your life, eh?

— Hyman Rickover

Free discussion requires an atmosphere unembarrassed by any suggestion of authority or even respect.

— Hyman Rickover

“I have a son. I love my son. I want everything that I do to be so safe that I would be happy to have my son operating it. That's my fundamental rule.”

— Hyman Rickover

“Responsiblity is a unique concept. It can only reside and inhere in a single individual. You may share it with others, but your portion is not diminished. You may delegate it, but it is still with you. You may disclaim it, but you cannot divest yourself of it.”

— Hyman Rickover

“I suggest that this is a good time to think soberly about our responsibilities to our descendents - those who will ring out the Fossil Fuel Age. Our greatest responsibility, as parents and as citizens, is to give America's youngsters the best possible education. We need the best teachers and enough of them to prepare our young people for a future immeasurably more complex than the present, and calling for ever larger numbers of competent and highly trained men and women.”

— Hyman Rickover