The purpose of a system is what it does
The original quote essentially lays out that a system should be judged by its outcomes, not its intent.
“the purpose of a system is what it does”
— Stafford Beer
From Wikipedia:
The purpose of a system is what it does (POSIWID) is a systems thinking heuristic coined by Stafford Beer, who observed that there is "no point in claiming that the purpose of a system is to do what it constantly fails to do."The term is widely used by systems theorists, and is generally invoked to counter the notion that the purpose of a system can be read from the intentions of those who design, operate, or promote it.
We cannot expect the system to change and deliver different results, we must focus on changing the system.
If the purpose of a system is what it does, and we don’t like what it does, then we have to change the system.