{
  "type": "quote",
  "site": {
    "name": "Leafy Quotes",
    "language": "en",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com"
  },
  "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.",
  "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/donella-h-meadows/thinking-in-systems/when-there-are",
  "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/donella-h-meadows/thinking-in-systems/when-there-are.json",
  "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/donella-h-meadows/thinking-in-systems/when-there-are.md",
  "id": "dc6bdb0a-8c27-43c5-b460-60eda08f0e92",
  "slug": "when-there-are",
  "text": "When there are long delays in feedback loops, some sort of foresight is essential.",
  "language": "en",
  "author": {
    "name": "Donella H. Meadows",
    "slug": "donella-h-meadows",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/donella-h-meadows"
  },
  "book": {
    "title": "Thinking in Systems",
    "slug": "thinking-in-systems",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/donella-h-meadows/thinking-in-systems"
  },
  "character": null,
  "chapter": null,
  "chapter_parent": null,
  "page": null,
  "verified": false,
  "original": null,
  "other_languages": [],
  "topics": [
    {
      "name": "the future",
      "slug": "the-future",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-future"
    }
  ],
  "source": {
    "name": "Wikiquote",
    "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Donella_Meadows#Appendix_(summary)",
    "license": {
      "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
      "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
    }
  },
  "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:50",
  "more_from_book": [
    {
      "id": "fe046635-dc70-415d-bc95-f6fda303d0a9",
      "slug": "how-is-it-that",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/donella-h-meadows/thinking-in-systems/how-is-it-that",
      "text": "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?",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": 169,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "beliefs",
          "slug": "beliefs",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/beliefs"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Donella_Meadows#Thinking_in_Systems:_A_Primer_(2008)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:50"
    },
    {
      "id": "f0d23ab3-6727-4133-8ec6-798eb4669e69",
      "slug": "the-bounded-rationality",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/donella-h-meadows/thinking-in-systems/the-bounded-rationality",
      "text": "The bounded rationality of each actor in a system may not lead to decisions that further the welfare of the system as a whole.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": null,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "choices",
          "slug": "choices",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/choices"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Donella_Meadows#Appendix_(summary)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:50"
    },
    {
      "id": "eec34080-9fd9-4595-aba6-7d40f400596c",
      "slug": "power-over-the",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/donella-h-meadows/thinking-in-systems/power-over-the",
      "text": "Power over the rules is real power. That's why lobbyists congregate when Congress writes laws, and why the Supreme Court, which interprets and delineates the Constitution – the rules for writing the rules – has even more power than Congress. If you want to understand the deepest malfunctions of systems, pay attention to the rules and to who has power over them.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": 158,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "power",
          "slug": "power",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/power"
        },
        {
          "name": "law",
          "slug": "law",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/law"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Donella_Meadows#Thinking_in_Systems:_A_Primer_(2008)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:50"
    }
  ]
}
