The Quotation IndexThe trusted reference for quotations and the sources behind them
Tag Tag Efficiency
Stressing output is the key to improving productivity, while looking to increase activity can result in just the opposite.
Andrew S. Grove High Output Management · 1983

Quotes

“The great defect of scale, of course, which makes the game interesting, so that the big people don’t always win—is that as you get big, you get the bureaucracy.”

Charlie Munger · Poor Charlie’s Almanack, 2005 · Primary source

“Here I’d like to introduce the concept of leverage, which is the output generated by a specific type of work activity. An activity with high leverage will generate a high level of output; an activity with low leverage, a low level of output.”

Andrew S. Grove · High Output Management, 1983 · Primary source

“Employ thy time well, if thou meanest to gain leisure.”

Benjamin Franklin · Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1732-1758 · Primary source

“Haste makes waste.”

Benjamin Franklin · Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1732-1758 · Primary source

“Well done is twice done.”

Benjamin Franklin · Poor Richard’s Almanack, 1732-1758 · Primary source

“The history of the development of technique, like the history of geographical expansion, has failed to provide us with a criterion of the growth of civilizations, but it does reveal a principle by which technical progress is governed, which may be described as a law of progressive simplification. The ponderous and bulky steam-engine with its elaborate ‘permanent way’ is replaced by the neat and handy internal-combustion engine which can take to the roads with the speed of a railway train and almost all the freedom of action of a pedestrian. Telegraphy with wires is replaced by telegraphy without wires. The incredibly complicated scripts of the Sinic and Egyptiac societies are replaced by the neat and handy Latin Alphabet.”

Arnold J. Toynbee · A Study of History, 1934-1961 · Primary source

Related Tags

Productivity 9 Output 2 Performance measurement 1 Managerial leverage 2 Prioritisation 4 Technical progress 2 Simplification 2 Technological change 9 Civilisational development 1 Time management 8 Industry 17 Leisure 7 Self-discipline 19 Haste 3 Carelessness 1 Mistakes 5 Waste 1 Quality 4 Diligence 14 Thoroughness 1 Workmanship 1 Bureaucracy 1 Organisational scale 1 Corporate growth 1 Complexity 9