# Quote — Donella H. Meadows, Thinking in Systems

> The least obvious part of a system, its function or purpose, is often the most crucial determinant of the system's behavior.

- Author: [Donella H. Meadows](https://www.leafyquotes.com/donella-h-meadows.md)
- Book: [Thinking in Systems](https://www.leafyquotes.com/donella-h-meadows/thinking-in-systems.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Donella_Meadows#Appendix_(summary)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/donella-h-meadows/thinking-in-systems/the-least-obvious

## More from this book

> How is it that one way of seeing the world becomes so widely shared that institutions, technologies, production systems, buildings, cities, become shaped around that way of seeing?

p. 169 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/donella-h-meadows/thinking-in-systems/how-is-it-that.md)

> There always will be limits to growth.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/donella-h-meadows/thinking-in-systems/there-always-will-be.md)

> The bounded rationality of each actor in a system may not lead to decisions that further the welfare of the system as a whole.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/donella-h-meadows/thinking-in-systems/the-bounded-rationality.md)