It is impossible for the behavior of a single, isolated individual to — Herbert A. Simon

"Before we can establish any immutable principles of administration, we must be able to describe, in words, exactly how an administrative organization looks and exactly how it works."

"In these two essays [the papers of 1955 and 1956] the focus is upon ways of simplifying the choice problem to bring it within the power of human computation... The key to the simplification of the choice process in both cases is the replacement of the goal of maximizing with the goal of satisficing, of finding a course of action that is ‘good enough’. I have tried, in these two essays, to show why this substitution is an essential step in the application of the principle of bounded rationality."

"Organizations and institutions permit stable expectations to be formed by each member of the group as to the behavior of the other members under specified conditions."

"Organizations and institutions provide the general stimuli and attention-directors that channelize the behaviors of the members of the group, and that provide those members with the intermediate objectives that stimulate action."

"If there were no limits to human rationality administrative theory would be barren. It would consist of the single precept: Always select that alternative, among those available, which will lead to the most complete achievement of your goals."

"The behaviour of individuals is the tool with which the organisation achieves its targets."