"Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives."I can forgive a little sloppy attribution, but to make a mistake transcribing the name of the author of this quotation is so ironic that I won't even bother to complete...
Here are the facts, people:
Around 1930 or 1931, Will A. Foster of the Gabel-Risdon Creamery Co., 16900 Grand River, Detroit, MI (long since gone) gave an address entitled "Advantages of a Business Depression to a Sales Organization." In that address, he said what is quoted above, but those words are the middle part only of his statement, which I here quote in full:
'Whatever you or the public may consider quality to be, this definition is always a safe guide to follow: "Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives, the cumulative experience of many masters of craftsmanship; and it also marks the quest of an ideal after necessity has been satisfied and usefulness achieved." 'You can find an abstract of Will A. Foster's full address in the Proceedings of the Twenty-Fourth Annual Convention - International Association of Milk Dealers. There's a copy on file at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. And you can read a snippet at Google Books: Sales and Ad.... of Milk Dealers
An alumnus of the University of Wisconsin, by 1947-53 Will A. Foster was Vice-President of Advertising and Sales at the Borden Cheese Company. In 1958 he wrote "All Honor To The Cow--Facts and Fiction."
So the question becomes-- Who was Will A. Foster quoting, National Geographic? Or did he make up that definition himself?
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