Quotes About Efficiency

You talk about German technocracy and you get automobiles.

Good things, when short, are twice as good.

There is no doubt that physical activity is the basis of efficient functioning of the human mechanism, both physical and mental.

A man may take as much exercise in walking a mile up and down stairs, as in ten on level ground.

Laundry: Washing — 30 minutes Drying — 60 minutes Putting away — 7 to 10 business days

If the shelves are dusty and the pots don't shine, it's because I have better things to do with my time.

Standards are tools for finding solutions. benchmarks can turn an operation around

The police mentality cannot regard a human being in terms other than as an item or object to be processed as expeditiously as possible.

give dignity second place to expedience

Despite the initial reliance of commerce on routes created through military conquest, it soon became obvious that whereas armies moved quickest by horse across land, massive quantities of goods moved best by water. Mongols expanded and lengthened the Grand Canal that already connected the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers to transport grain and other agricultural products farther and more efficiently into the northern districts.

By comparison with the terrifying acts of civilized armies of the era, the Mongols did not inspire fear by the ferocity or cruelty of their acts so much as by the speed and efficiency with which they conquered and their seemingly total disdain for the lives of the rich and powerful.

The boss would be present at the beginning of each session, laying out the rationale for the Work-Out. He or she would also commit to two things: to give an on-the-spot yes or no to 75 percent of the recommendations that came out of the session, and to resolve the remaining 25 percent within thirty days. The boss would then disappear until the end of the session, so as not to stifle open discussion, returning only at the end to make good on his or her promise.*

Companies win when their managers make a clear and meaningful distinction between top- and bottom-performing businesses and people, when they cultivate the strong and cull the weak. Companies suffer when every business and person is treated equally and bets are sprinkled all around like rain on the ocean.

Forget the arduous, intellectualized number crunching and data grinding that gurus say you have to go through to get strategy right. Forget the scenario planning, yearlong studies, and hundred-plus-page reports. They're time-consuming and expensive, and you just don't need them. In real life, strategy is actually very straightforward. You pick a general direction and implement like hell.

So much to do, so much time

I want to be aware of the minutes and the seconds, and to make each one count.

there's one thing I do want. I want to be aware of the minutes and the seconds, and to make each one count.

Yes, there's one thing I do want. I want to be aware of the minutes and the seconds, and to make each one count.

Technique has taken over the whole of civilization. Death, procreation, birth all submit to technical efficiency and systemization.

Modern technology has become a total phenomenon for civilization, the defining force of a new social order in which efficiency is no longer an option but a necessity imposed on all human activity.

Efficiency is a fact and justice a slogan.

Total Immersion: The Revolutionary Way to Swim Better, Faster, and Easier.

A lot of nonsense is spoken about work. Some of the finest men I've known were the laziest. Never work because it's expected of you. Find out how much work you must do to live and be happy. Don't do any more.

In China they used thousands of workmen where ten would suffice, because they got them cheap, and the results suffered. I concluded that the most expensive product in the world is cheap labor, because it lures you away from rational operations. You pay a man a high wage, you demand a high return, and from high returns you pick up a good profit. So ever since, I've believed in paying a man high wages, then taxing him like hell for the welfare of the state. The thing that