Quotes from Norman Ralph Augustine

A billion saved is a billion earned.

Law Number XXIV: The only thing more costly than stretching the schedule of an established project is accelerating it, which is itself the most costly action known to man.

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.

Two-thirds of the Earth's surface is covered with water. The other third is covered with auditors from headquarters.

The weaker the data available upon which to base one's conclusion, the greater the precision which should be quoted in order to give the data authenticity.

Regulations grow at the same rate as weeds.

There are many highly successful businesses in the United States. There are also many highly paid executives. The policy is not to intermingle the two.

All too many consultants, when asked, 'What is 2 and 2?' respond, 'What do you have in mind?'

It costs a lot to build bad products.

Only by providing leading-edge human capital and knowledge capital can American continue to maintain a high standard of living, including providing national security for its citizens.

Most projects start out slowly - and then sort of taper off.

Software is like entropy. It is difficult to grasp, weighs nothing, and obeys the second law of thermodynamics; i.e. it always increases.

The more one produces, the less one gets.

Simple systems are not feasible because they require infinite testing.

Motivation will almost always beat mere talent.

People do not win people fights. Lawyers do.

Bulls do not win bull fights. People do.

Law Number L: The average regulation has a life span one-fifth as long as a chimpanzee's and one-tenth as long as a human's, but four times as long as the official's who created it.

Rank does not intimidate hardware. Neither does the lack of rank.

Although most products will soon be too costly to purchase, there will be a thriving market in the sale of books on how to fix them.

Hardware works best when it matters the least.

By the time of the United States Tricentennial, there will be more government workers than there are workers.

Any task can be completed in only one-third more time than is currently estimated.

If today was half as good as tomorrow is supposed to be, it would probably be twice as good as yesterday was.