Author and management consultant Peter F. Drucker (he disdained the term "guru" in favor of "social ecologist") died last week at the ripe age of 95, leaving behind more than 30 books and a towering reputation as a business authority and social critic. Born in Vienna in 1909, during the twilight of the great royal dynasties, Drucker lived to comment -- with undimmed perception, clarity and wit -- on the economic and social issues of the 21st Century. I don't recall how many times I read his 1966 classic, The Effective Executive, but it's still on my shelf, dog-eared and profusely underlined.

Drucker was one of the most entertaining business commentators who ever lived, and one of the most quotable. So, as a personal tribute to a great man, and as a favor to other speechwriters, I devote the remainder of this posting to a few of my favorite Druckerisms.

"The computer is a moron."

"For the first four years, no new enterprise produces profits. Even Mozart didn't start writing music until he was four."

"The corporate income tax is the most asinine of taxes."

"Many businessmen are always establishing new beachheads. They never ask, 'Is there a beach to that beachhead?'"

"As to the idea that advertising motivates people, remember the Edsel."

"For twenty-five years, the bona-fide liberal has been screaming for true internationalism. He got it -- the multinational corporation -- in a form he didn't like."

"Reorganization is surgery. One doesn't just cut."

"Our educational system disqualifies people for honest work."

"Harvard, to me, combines the worst of German academic arrogance with bad American theological seminary habits."

"Social security is a fantasy. It doesn't fund anything."

"If a government commission had worked on the horse, you would have had the first horse who could operate his knee joint in both directions. The only trouble would have been that he couldn't stand up."

"Totalitarianism is the final result of science without morality."

And, finally, my all-time favorite Drucker quote:

"So much of what we call management consists in making it difficult for people to work."