Rickover Quotes
ADMIRAL RICKOVER QUOTES
Below are quotes from Admiral Hyman G. Rickover. We will add additional Admiral Rickover quotes to this article every month until we run out of Rickover quotes.
Rickover Quote 26
Admiral Rickover had this to say about the continuity of leadership in the Department of Defense…
“The Defense Department does not recognize the need for continuity in important jobs. It rotates officers every few years, both at headquarters and in the field. The same applies to their civilian superiors.”
“This system virtually ensures inexperience and nonaccountability. By the time an officer has begun to learn a job, it is time for him to rotate. Under this system, incumbents can blame their problems on predecessors. They are assigned to another job before the results of their work become evident. Subordinates cannot be expected to remain committed to a job and perform effectively when they are continuously adapting to a new job or to a new boss.”
Rickover Quote 25
This one is a famous bit of management advice…
Rickover: “You get what you inspect – not what you expect.”
Rickover Quote 24
“Our greatest responsibility as parents and citizens,
is to give America’s youngsters the best possible education.”
– Admiral Rickover
Rickover Quote 23
“Trying to make things work in government is sometimes
like trying to sew a button on a custard pie.”
• Admiral Rickover
Rickover Quote 22
“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.”
• Admiral Rickover
Rickover Quote 21
“Optimism and stupidity are nearly synonymous.”
― HYMAN G. RICKOVER
Rickover Quote 20
“Responsibility is a unique concept… You may share it with others, but your portion is not diminished. You may delegate it, but it is still with you… If responsibility is rightfully yours, no evasion, or ignorance or passing the blame can shift the burden to someone else. Unless you can point your finger at the man who is responsible when something goes wrong, then you have never had anyone really responsible.”
Rickover Quote 19
“Success teaches us nothing; only failure teaches.”
Rickover Quote 18
Rickover Quote 17
His article in Metals Engineering Quarterly starts with …
“Progress — like freedom — is desired by nearly all men, but not all understand that both come at a cost. Whenever society advances — be it in culture and education or science and technology — there is a rise in the requirements man must meet to function successfully. The price of progress is acceptance of these more exacting standards of performance and relinquishment of familiar habits and conventions rendered obsolete because they no longer meet the new standards.”
Read and consider the entire article here …
“The Never-Ending Challenge” by H. G. Rickover from Kurt D. Hamman
Rickover Quote 16
Rickover Quote 15
A system in which it takes three men to check what one is doing
is not control; it is systematic strangulation.
Admiral H.G. Rickover
Rickover Quote 14
Rickover Quote 13
Every hour has sixty golden minutes,
each studded with sixty diamond seconds.
Admiral Hyman Rickover
That quote was on the wall of the nuclear prototype classroom in Idaho.
Rickover Quote 12
When you waste your time, remember …
Even God cannot undo the past.
Admiral Hyman Rickover
Rickover Quote 11
Rickover’s advice about Nuclear Power School…
At this school, the smartest work as hard
as those who must struggle to pass.
Admiral Hyman Rickover
Rickover Quote 10
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.
Admiral Hyman Rickover
Rickover Quote 9
Yet it is incumbent on those in high places to make wise decisions, and
it is reasonable and important that the public be correctly informed.
It is consequently incumbent on all of us to state the facts
as forthrightly as possible.
Admiral Hyman Rickover
Rickover Quote 8
Success teaches us nothing.
Only failure teaches.
Admiral Hyman Rickover
Rickover Quote 7
The tools of the academic designer are a piece of paper and a pencil with an eraser.
If a mistake is made, it can be erased and changed.
If a practical reactor designer errs, it cannot be erased.
Everyone sees it.
Admiral Hyman Rickover
Rickover Quote 6
I believe it is the duty of each of us to act as if the fate of the world
depended on him. Admittedly, one man by himself cannot do the job.
However, one man can make a difference…
We must live for the future of the human race,
and not for our own comfort or success.
Admiral Hyman Rickover
Rickover Quote 5
Rickover at the S1W Prototype…
“Any one detail, followed through to its source,
will usually reveal the general state of readiness of the whole organization.”
Admiral Hyman Rickover
Rickover Quote 4
Rickover’s picture in the Naval Academy Yearbook…
“Responsibility is a unique concept,
it can only reside and adhere 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.
Even if you do not recognize it or admit is presence,
you cannot escape it.
If responsibility is rightfully yours,
no evasion, or ignorance,or passing the blame
can shift the burden to someone else.
Unless you can point your finger at the man who is responsible
when something goes wrong,
then you never had anyone really responsible.”
Admiral Hyman Rickover
Rickover Quote 3
Sit down before facts with an open mind.
Be prepared to give up every preconceived notion.
Follow humbly wherever and to whatever abyss Nature leads, or you learn nothing.
Don’t push out figures when facts are going in the opposite direction.
Admiral Hyman Rickover
Rickover Quote 2
Good Ideas are not adopted automatically.
They must be driven into practice with courageous impatience.
Admiral Hyman Rickover
Rickover Quote 1
Require rising standards of adequacy.
Be technically self-sufficient.
Face the facts.
Respect even small amounts of radiation.
Require adherence to the concept of total responsibility.
Develop the capacity to learn from experience.
Admiral Hyman Rickover
This may be some what out of context Admiral Rickover could ask a potential Submarine Officer ” Why do you think you are good enough to serve in my Navy (Nuclear Submarines) “
Rickover once said that we should stand outside the Pentagon and fire every third person who comes out. Maybe it wass two of every three.
As a former nuc sailor, I would say that he and the nuclear Navy took some of his advice – as in his seven rule for success. Hiring smart people was the key to the strength of the nuclear navy. Other rules played their part but the big failure was lack of quality supervision. This is the big failing of the nuclear navy of my era and from what I read of the suicides in today’s nuclear power school, ‘the program’ still needs to work on this. We succeeded in spite of our leaders. We were more highly motivated than they were. A good supervisor does not look over his shoulder all the time to see if any of his actions has attracted unwanted attention. A good supervisor is not an obstacle that must be avoided/surmounted/defeated/whatever. A good supervisor is not imperious, is not arbitrary.
Rickover never came to our ship but I asked my EOOWs for their Rickover interview stories and their responses were not the sorts of things that inspire confidence in a leader.
Thanks for your comment.
Can’t say that I agree with every quote here but it is hard to argue with success.
There are many problems in the Navy today and some may be infecting the Nuclear Navy. It certainly is a different Navy from my times. Don’t know what your time in the Nuc Navy was but everything was not rosy when I was in the Navy. There is always room for improvement.