Systems: The Experts Speak Out


Knowledge of the human body depends upon knowledge of the whole man.

—Hippocrates on Medicine, 400 B.C.

The first question is whether there is a system.

—Francis Bacon, 1620

Without a system, it would be easy for elements to be omitted and for failure to step in.

—Johann Comenius, 1650

I speak of a system of government.

—Spinoza, Political Treatise, 1677

The center of the world system is unmovable.

—Newton, The System of the World, 1687

Observe how system into system runs ...

—Alexander Pope, 1734

In nature everything depends on everything else.

—Diderot, 1750

The principles of a system, which I shall explain and examine.

—Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, 1776

Star systems, part of still vaster systems.

—Kant, 1790

To catch a system by the tail is like catching a lizard—the whole truth escapes and leaves the tail in your hand.

—Turgenev, 1850

Naturalists arrange species, genera, and families into what is called a Natural System.

—Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species, 1859

Problems that are created by our current level of thinking can't be solved on that same level of thinking.

—Albert Einstein, 1910

In the past, man was first; in the future, the system will be first.

—Frederick Taylor, The Principles of Scientific Management, 1911

Every system is inevitably incomplete: it will contain certain statements that cannot be proved within that system.

—Kurt Goedel, The Incompleteness Theorem, 1930

Systems are man-made organisms.

—Robert Gagne, 1962

Systematic: carrying out a design with thoroughness and regularity.

—Webster's Dictionary, 1982

A snowflake is itself a particular system.

—Paul Davies, The Edge of Infinity, 1990

Questioner: "I'm worried about the tail wagging the dog."

Systems Expert: "The tail is the dog."

—Anonymous




The 30-Second Encyclopedia of Learning and Performance. A Trainer's Guide to Theory, Terminology, and Practice
The 30-Second Encyclopedia of Learning and Performance: A Trainers Guide to Theory, Terminology, and Practice
ISBN: 0814471781
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2002
Pages: 110

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