What is efficient?

Famous quotes containing the word efficient:

“As machines become more and more efficient and perfect, so it will become clear that imperfection is the greatness of man.”
—Ernst Fischer (1899–1972)

“I make no secret of the fact that I would rather lie on a sofa than sweep beneath it. But you have to be efficient if you’re going to be lazy.”
—Shirley Conran (b. 1932)

“An efficient and valuable man does what he can, whether the community pay him for it or not. The inefficient offer their inefficiency to the highest bidder, and are forever expecting to be put into office. One would suppose that they were rarely disappointed.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)