"The "patron saint" of Japanese quality control, ironically, is an American named W. Edwards Deming, who was virtually unknown in his own country until his ideas of quality control began to make such a big impact on Japanese companies."

“You can be totally rational with a machine. But if you work with people, sometimes logic often has to take a backseat to understanding.”

“The effect of three things - the new laws, the revision of the tax system, and the elimination of the zaibatsu conglomerates - was to make Japan an egalitarian society for the first time.”

“Once you have a staff of prepared, intelligent, and energetic people, the next step is to motivate them to be creative.”

“Management of an industrial company must be giving targets to the engineers constantly; that may be the most important job management has in dealing with its engineers.”

“..I believe it is a big mistake to think that money is the only way to compensate a person for his work. People need money, but they also want to be happy in their work and proud of it.”

“Only with these three kinds of creativity - technology, product planning, and marketing - can the public receive the benefit of a new technology.”