1

Deming's First Theorem: "Nobody gives a hoot about profit."

2

Deming's Second Theorem: "We are being ruined by best efforts."

3

Information is not  knowledge. Knowledge comes from  theory.

4

There is an excuse for  ignorance, but there is no way to avoid the consequences.

5

You should  not  ask questions without  knowledge.

6

Information is not knowledge. Let's not confuse the two.

7

There is no knowledge without theory.

8

Our customers should take joy in our products and services.

9

Competition should not be for a share of the market -- but to expand the market. 

10

If people did not make mistakes, there would be no mistakes.

11

Experience teaches nothing without theory.

12

Three percent of the problems have figures, ninety-seven percent of the problems do not.

13

You do not install knowledge

14

You cannot define being exactly on time

15

A rule should suit the purpose.

16

We must understand variation. 

17

Anybody can predict anything. 

18

Management does not know what a system is.

19

Have you ever known a golfer who was happy?

20

Without theory we can only copy. 

21

We should be guided by theory, not by numbers. 

22

Precise optimization is not necessary. It would be too costly.

23

Shrink, shrink variation -- to reduce the loss. 

24

Understanding variation is the key to success in quality and business. 

25

You test to predict.

26

You should not tamper with the process

27

If you do not know how to ask the right question, you discover nothing. 

28

You cannot achieve an aim unless you have a method. If someone can make a contribution to the company, he feels important. 

29

You do not find knowledge in a dictionary, only information.

30

The merit system will put us out of business.

31

A leader's job is to help people. 

32

Retroactive management emphasizes the bottom line. 

33

Management's job is to optimize the whole system.

34

Judging people does not help them.

35

Management is prediction. 

36

Making two people responsible guarantees mistakes. 

37

Managing by results only makes things worse.

38

Let us ask our suppliers to come and help us solve our problems.

39

We want best efforts guided by theory. 

40

When we cooperate, everybody wins.

41

There is no such thing as a fact.

42

It does not happen all at once. There is no instant pudding.

43

Change the rule and you will get a new number. 

44

Ranking. What does it do?

45

Forces of Destruction: grades in school, merit system, incentive pay, business plans, quotas.

46

Innovation comes from the producer -- not from the customer. 

47

Confusing common causes with special causes will only make things worse.

48

Meeting specifications is not enough.

49

You cannot inspect quality into the product; it is already there.

50

When a worker has reached a stable state, further training will not help him.

51

A man that knows his limitations is one that you can trust. 

52

Plants don't close from poor workmanship, but from poor management.

53

A leader is obligated to make changes in the system of management.

54

Why can't people work with pride?

55

Innovation comes from people who take joy in their work.

56

It is not necessary to confess past sins. 

57

Whenever there is fear, you will get wrong figures.

58

The performance of any individual is to be judged in terms of his contribution to the aim of the system, not on his individual performance.

59

Improve quality, you automatically improve productivity.

60

Best efforts will not substitute for knowledge.

61

The customer invents nothing. New products and new services come from the producer. 

62

There is no substitute for knowledge.

63

Quality starts in the boardroom. 

64

There is no observation without theory.

65

The transformation can only be accomplished by man. A company cannot buy its way to quality.

66

Management by results is confusing special causes with common causes. 

67

A system must be managed. It will not manage itself.

68

You must have a supplier relationship of constant improvement.

69

The process is not just the sum of its parts.

70

A goal without a method is nonsense. 

71

Nobody should try to use data unless he has collected data. 

72

It is easy to date an earthquake, but not an economic decline.

73

Without theory there is nothing to modify or learn.

74

Everyone is a customer for somebody, or a supplier to somebody.

75

Any manager can do well in an expanding market. 

76

Manage the cause, not the result.

77

Without an aim, there is no system.

78

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

79

Any two people have different ideas of what is important.

80

They are just doing their best. How do they know?

81

A leader is a coach, not a judge. 

82

Zero defects is a super highway going down the tube. 

83

We can do something about our problems or continue the way we are. 

84

We know what we told him but we don't know what he heard.

85

People are entitled to joy in work.

86

It's management's job to know.

87

Does experience help? No! Not if we are doing the wrong things.

88

Stamping out fires is a lot of fun, but it is only putting things back the way they were.

89

100% inspection will guarantee trouble.

90

Price is not the only cost.

91

A leader knows who is out of the system and needs special help.

92

Our problems is not the Japanese.

93

Managing by results is like looking in the rear-view mirror.

94

If you stay in this world, you will never learn another one. 

95

You do not install quality; you begin to work at it.

96

The problem is that most courses teach what is wrong.

97

The transformation will come from leadership.

98

Monetary rewards are not a substitute for intrinsic motivation. 

99

We should work on our processes, not the outcome of our processes.

100

If you destroy the people of a company, you do not have much left.