The Systems Bible Quotes

“A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that works. The inverse proposition also appears to be true: A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be made to work.”
― John Gall, The Systems Bible: The Beginner's Guide to Systems Large and Small

“GREAT ADVANCES DO NOT COME OUT OF SYSTEMS DESIGNED TO PRODUCE GREAT ADVANCES.”
― John Gall, SYSTEMANTICS. THE SYSTEMS BIBLE

“The First Law of Systems-Survival: A SYSTEM THAT IGNORES FEEDBACK HAS ALREADY BEGUN THE PROCESS OF TERMINAL INSTABILITY.”
― John Gall, SYSTEMANTICS. THE SYSTEMS BIBLE

“JUST CALLING IT “FEEDBACK” DOESN’T MEAN THAT IT HAS ACTUALLY FED BACK To speak precisely: IT HASN’T FED BACK UNTIL THE SYSTEM CHANGES COURSE Up to that point, it’s merely Sensory Input.”
― John Gall, SYSTEMANTICS. THE SYSTEMS BIBLE

“Inaccessibility Theorem: THE INFORMATION YOU HAVE IS NOT THE INFORMATION YOU WANT. THE INFORMATION YOU WANT IS NOT THE INFORMATION YOU NEED. THE INFORMATION YOU NEED IS NOT THE INFORMATION YOU CAN OBTAIN. Rule”
― John Gall, SYSTEMANTICS. THE SYSTEMS BIBLE

“M. Gandhi is reported to have said: “There go my people. I must find out where they are going, so I can lead them.”[a.]”
― John Gall, SYSTEMANTICS. THE SYSTEMS BIBLE

“A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be patched up to make it work. You have to start over with a working simple system”
― John Gall, The Systems Bible: The Beginner's Guide to Systems Large and Small

“AS SYSTEMS GROW IN SIZE AND COMPLEXITY, THEY TEND TO LOSE BASIC FUNCTIONS”
― John Gall, SYSTEMANTICS. THE SYSTEMS BIBLE

“IN ORDER TO REMAIN UNCHANGED, THE SYSTEM MUST CHANGE Specifically,”
― John Gall, SYSTEMANTICS. THE SYSTEMS BIBLE

“The reader is invited to ask him-or herself, Is it possible that I am seeing the world from inside a System? Am I, unbeknownst to myself, a Systems-person? The answer is always, Yes. The relevant question is, simply, Which System?”
― John Gall, SYSTEMANTICS. THE SYSTEMS BIBLE

“IF A SYSTEM CAN BE EXPLOITED, IT WILL BE. ANY SYSTEM CAN BE EXPLOITED. CHAPTER”
― John Gall, SYSTEMANTICS. THE SYSTEMS BIBLE

“SYSTEMS TEND TO MALFUNCTION CONSPICUOUSLY JUST AFTER THEIR GREATEST TRIUMPH. Fully”
― John Gall, SYSTEMANTICS. THE SYSTEMS BIBLE

“success is largely a matter of Avoiding the Most Likely Ways to Fail[d. ], and since every Bug advances us significantly along that path, we may hearken back to the advice given in the Preface and urge the following Policy: CHERISH YOUR BUGS. STUDY THEM But”
― John Gall, SYSTEMANTICS. THE SYSTEMS BIBLE

“IN SETTING UP A NEW SYSTEM, TREAD SOFTLY. YOU MAY BE DISTURBING ANOTHER SYSTEM THAT IS ACTUALLY WORKING”
― John Gall, SYSTEMANTICS. THE SYSTEMS BIBLE

“WHEN BIG SYSTEMS FAIL, THE FAILURE IS OFTEN BIG”
― John Gall, SYSTEMANTICS. THE SYSTEMS BIBLE

“May God us keep From simple vision and Newton’s sleep. —William Blake[xxvii]”
― John Gall, SYSTEMANTICS. THE SYSTEMS BIBLE

“Reviewing the 6 meltdowns that had occurred in the 54 trials that had been conducted to date, that source estimated the risk to be one in a hundred million.”
― John Gall, SYSTEMANTICS. THE SYSTEMS BIBLE

“The reader who is familiar with the First Edition will note, in the Second Edition, a very slight and subtle shift of focus, a change of emphasis, in the direction of Pragmatism. Some of the later Chapters, if read uncritically, could even lead to a sort of optimism regarding Man’s ultimate ability to take charge of Systems—those created by his own hand as well as those originated by Mother Nature. The reader is hereby warned that any such optimism is the reader’s own responsibility.”
― John Gall, SYSTEMANTICS. THE SYSTEMS BIBLE

“anyone who identifies him/herself publicly as a “change agent” is self-convicted of incompetence. Changes will certainly occur as a result, but they are not likely to be the changes desired.”
― John Gall, SYSTEMANTICS. THE SYSTEMS BIBLE

“A COMPLEX SYSTEM THAT WORKS IS INVARIABLY FOUND TO HAVE EVOLVED FROM A SIMPLE SYSTEM THAT WORKED. A”
― John Gall, SYSTEMANTICS. THE SYSTEMS BIBLE

“People, through finding something ‘beautiful,’ think something else ‘unbeautiful”
― John Gall, SYSTEMANTICS. THE SYSTEMS BIBLE

“A question frequently asked is: does not the persistent occurrence of Horrible Examples of Systems-function (or Malfunction) prove something about human nature? If humans were rational, wouldn’t they act otherwise than they do? We reply: Systems-functions are not the result of human intransigeance. We take it as given that people are generally doing the very best they know how. Our point, repeatedly stressed in this text, is that Systems operate according to Laws of Nature, and that Laws of Nature are not suspended to accommodate our human shortcomings. There is no alternative to learning How Systems Work, unless one is willing to continue to run afoul of those Laws. Whoever does not study the Laws of Systemantics and learn them that way, is destined to learn them the hard way, by direct encounter in the world of Experience. That such runnning-afoul continues to occur is simply a reflection of the fact that knowledge of those laws is not yet sufficiently widespread. The problem is one of Education, and this book represents an effort in that direction.”
― John Gall, SYSTEMANTICS. THE SYSTEMS BIBLE