A plan that emphasizes the parts may pay the cost of failing to consider the whole, and a plan that emphasizes the whole may pay the cost of failing to get down to the real depth with respect to the parts."

It's always wise to raise questions about the most obvious and simple assumption.

We turn to God for help when our foundations are shaking, only to learn that it is God who is shaking them.

Knowledge resides in the user and not in the collection (of information). It is how the user reacts to a collection of information that matters.

We have overwhelming evidence that available information plus analysis does not lead to knowledge. The management science team can properly analyse a situation and present recommendations to the manager, but no change occurs. The situation is so familiar to those of us who try to practice management science that I hardly need to describe those cases.

A system is a set of parts coordinated to accomplish a set of goals.

The measure of our intellectual capacity is the capacity to feel less and less satisfied with our answers to better and better problems.