A Quote by W. Edwards Deming

The most important measures are both unknown and unknowable.

W. Edwards Deming

Quote Topics

Both Important Measures Most The Most Important Unknowable Unknown

Quote Author

W. Edwards Deming
American - Scientist
October 14, 1900 - December 20, 1993

The most important figures for management of any organization are unknown and unknowable.

W. Edwards Deming

One cannot be successful on visible figures alone ... the most important figures that one needs for management are unknown or unknowable, but successful management must nevertheless take account of them.

W. Edwards Deming

The greatest losses are unknown and unknowable.

W. Edwards Deming

Now I am the unknown, the unknowable.

Maggie Stiefvater

Poetry is a search for syllables to shoot at the barriers of the unknown and the unknowable.

Carl Sandburg

God is certainly one. He has no second. He is unfathomable, unknowable and unknown to the vast majority of mankind.

Mahatma Gandhi

There is the unknown and the unknowable which propounds all creation. This we cannot love , we can only accept it as a term of our own limitation and ratification. We can only know that from the unknown, profound desires enter in upon us, and that the fulfilling of these desires is the fulfilling of creation.

D. H. Lawrence

The four points of the compass be logic, knowledge, wisdom and the unknown. Some do bow in that final direction. Others advance upon it. To bow before the one is to lose sight of the three. I may submit to the unknown, but never to the unknowable. The man who bows in that final direction is either a saint or a fool. I have no use for either.

Roger Zelazny

I view it as one of the greatest crimes to shadow the minds of the young with these gloomy superstitions, and with fears of the unknown and the unknowable to poison all their joy in life.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

The medical literature is full of reports going back many years that provide evidence that thyroid medication, used when indicated, is one of the most helpful measures in the treatment of infertility in both men and women. And not infrequently it may be needed by both partners in an infertile marriage.

Broda Otto Barnes

Surely we cannot take an open question like the supernatural and shut it with a bang, turning the key of the madhouse on all the mystics of history. You cannot take the region of the unknown and calmly say that, though you know nothing about it, you know all the gates are locked. We do not know enough about the unknown to know that it is unknowable.

Gilbert K. Chesterton

We ought not to believe those who today, adopting a philosophical air and with a tone of superiority, prophesy the decline of culter and are content with the unknowable in a self-satisfied way. For us there is no unknowable, and in my opinion there is also non whatsoever for the natural sciences. In place of this foolish unknowable, let our watchword on the contrary be: we must know - we shall know.

David Hilbert

The five most important words a leader can speak are - 'I am proud of you' The four most important are - 'What is your opinion?' The three most important are - 'If you please' The two most important are - 'Thank You' And the most important single word of all is - 'You'

Denis Waitley

Society needs both parents and nonparents, both the work party and the home party. While raising children is the most important work most people will do, not everyone is cut out for parenthood. And, as many a childless teacher has proved, raising kids is not the only important contribution a person can make to their future.

Virginia Postrel

It's fear of the unknown. The unknown is what it is. And to be frightened of it is what sends everybody scurrying around chasing dreams, illusions, wars, peace, love, hate, all that-it's all illusion. Unknown is what it is. Accept that it's unknown and it's plain sailing. Everything is unknown-then you're ahead of the game. That's what it is. Right?