Good quotes

From Motley Bytes Wiki
Jump to: navigation, search

Contents

Isaac_Asimov

Computer Arithmetic

“Computers are better than we are at arithmetic, not because computers are so good at it, but because we are so bad at it.”
  • Source: Isaac Asimov, chapter epigraph in Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations, edited by Isaac Asimov and Jason A. Shulman, published in 1988 by Weidenfeld and Nicolson, New York. Chapter 14, page 51. ISBN 1-555-84111-2.
Keywords: Computer_quotes Better_quotes Arithmetic_quotes Good_quotes Bad_quotes

Scientific Method

“It is hard to describe the exact route to scientific achievement, but a good scientist doesn't get lost as he travels it.”
  • Source: Isaac Asimov, chapter epigraph in Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations, edited by Isaac Asimov and Jason A. Shulman, published in 1988 by Weidenfeld and Nicolson, New York. Chapter 75, page 290. ISBN 1-555-84111-2.
Keywords: Scientific_Method_quotes Hard_quotes Scientific_quotes Achievement_quotes Good_quotes Scientist_quotes Lost_quotes Travel_quotes

Marcus_Aurelius

Be Good For Something

“Do not act as if you had ten thousand years to throw away. Death stands at your elbow. Be good for something, while you live and it is in your power.”
Keywords: Year_quotes Throw_quotes Away_quotes Death_quotes Elbow_quotes Good_quotes Something_quotes Live_quotes Power_quotes

Bible_Verses

Merry Heart Medicine (Proverbs 17:22)

(22) “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.”
Keywords: Merry_quotes Heart_quotes Medicine_quotes Good_quotes Broken_quotes Spirit_quotes Dry_quotes Bone_quotes Optimism_quotes Placebo_quotes

David_Bohm

Theory Purpose

“we must avoid postulating a new element for each new phenomenon. But an equally serious mistake is to admit into the theory only those elements which can now be observed. For the purpose of a theory is not only to correlate the results of observations that we already know how to make, but also to suggest the need for new kinds of observations and to predict their results. In fact, the better a theory is able to suggest the need for new kinds of observations and to predict their results correctly, the more confidence we have that this theory is likely to be good representation of the actual properties of matter and not simply an empirical system especially chosen in such a way as to correlate a group of already known facts.”
  • Source: David Bohm in the paper “A Suggested Interpretation of the Quantum Theory in Terms of ‘Hidden’ Variables. II”. Published January 1952 in Physical Review volume 35 issue 2.
Keywords: Avoid_quotes Postulate_quotes Element_quotes New_quotes Phenomenon_quotes Mistake_quotes Admit_quotes Theory_quotes Observation_quotes Purpose_quotes Correlation_quotes Result_quotes Already_quotes Make_quotes Suggest_quotes Need_quotes Kind_quotes Prediction_quotes Better_quotes Correct_quotes Confidence_quotes Good_quotes Represent_quotes Actual_quotes Property_quotes Matter_quotes Empirical_quotes System_quotes Choose_quotes Way_quotes Group_quotes Known_quotes Fact_quotes

Dietrich_Bonhoeffer

Stupidity

“Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of  force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease. Against stupidity we are defenseless. Neither protests nor the use of force accomplish anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one’s prejudgment simply need not be believed — in such moments the stupid person even becomes critical — and when facts are irrefutable they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental. In all this the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self-satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack. For that reason, greater caution is called for when dealing with a stupid person than with a malicious one. Never again will we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous.”
  • Source: From the paper “An Account at the Turn of the Year 1942-1943” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, contained within the book “Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Volume 8: Letters and Papers from Prison” edited by John W. Gruchy, et al. Published in 2009 by Fortress Press.
Keywords: Stupid_quotes Danger_quotes Malice_quotes Enemy_quotes Good_quotes Protest_quotes Evil_quotes Expose_quotes Prevent_quotes Force_quotes Carry_quotes Germ_quotes Subversion_quotes Human_quotes Being_quotes Sense_quotes Unease_quotes Against_quotes Defenseless_quotes Accomplish_quotes Reason_quotes Fall_quotes Deaf_quotes Ear_quotes Fact_quotes Contradict_quotes Prejudgment_quotes Simple_quotes Believe_quotes Moment_quotes Person_quotes Critical_quotes Irrefutable_quotes Push_quotes Inconsequential_quotes Incidental_quotes Contrast_quotes Utterly_quotes Self_quotes Satisfy_quotes Easy_quotes Irritate_quotes Attack_quotes Caution_quotes Deal_quotes Persuade_quotes Senseless_quotes

Robert_Boyle

Good Hypothesis

“The Requisites of a good Hypothesis are:
: That It be Intelligible.
: That It neither Assume nor Suppose anything Impossible, unintelligible, or demonstrably False.
: That It be consistent with Itself.
: That It be lit and sufficient to Explicate the Phaenomena, especially the chief.
: That It be, at least, consistent, with the rest of the Phaenomena It particularly relates to, and do not contradict any other known Phaenomena of nature, or manifest Physical Truth.
 
The Qualities and Conditions of an Excellent Hypothesis are:
: That It be not Precarious, but have sufficient Grounds In the nature of the Thing Itself or at least be well recommended by some Auxiliary Proofs.
: That It be the Simplest of all the good ones we are able to frame, at least containing nothing that is superfluous or Impertinent.
: That It be the only Hypothesis that can Explicate the Phaenomena; or at least, that do's Explicate them so well.
: That it enable a skillful naturalist to foretell future Phaenomena by the Congruity or Incongruity to it; and especially the event of such experiments as are aptly devised to examine It, as Things that ought, or ought not, to be consequent to It.”
  • Source: Robert Boyle, Boyle Papers, 37. Quoted In Barbara Kaplan (ed.), Divulging of Useful Truths in Physick: The Medical Agenda of Robert Boyle (1993), 50.
Keywords: Hypothesis_quotes Communication_quotes Obfuscation_quotes Impossibility_quotes Falsification_quotes Consistency_quotes Explanation_quotes Nature_quotes Truth_quotes Contradiction_quotes Proof_quotes Simplicity_quotes Alternative_quotes Congruity_quotes Incongruity_quotes Experiment_quotes Prediction_quotes Induction_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Good_quotes Requisite_quotes Intelligent_quotes Assumption_quotes Suppose_quotes Unintelligent_quotes Demonstrate_quotes False_quotes Self_quotes Phenomenon_quotes Chief_quotes Physical_quotes Quality_quotes Condition_quotes Excellent_quotes Precarious_quotes Sufficient_quotes Ground_quotes Auxiliary_quotes Frame_quotes Superfluous_quotes Impertinent_quotes Enable_quotes Skill_quotes Foretell_quotes Future_quotes Event_quotes Devise_quotes Examine_quotes Consequence_quotes

Fred_Brooks

Boldness in Design

“The boldest design decisions, whoever made them, have accounted for a high fraction of the goodness of the outcome. These bold decisions were made due sometimes to vision, sometimes to desperation. They were always gambles, requiring extra investment in hopes of getting a much better result.”
  • Source: Brooks Jr., F. P. (2010). The Design of Design. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Addison-Wesley. ISBN: 978-0-201-36298-5. Preface.
Keywords: Design_quotes Decision_quotes Quality_quotes Vision_quotes Desperation_quotes Gambling_quotes Hope_quotes Bold_quotes Account_quotes High_quotes Fraction_quotes Good_quotes Outcome_quotes Investment_quotes Better_quotes Result_quotes

Robert_N_Britcher

Important Development Things

“The single, most important thing is that the individual programmer needs to be given total responsibility and control of the programming, including its function... eliminate project design and review as an exhaustive and rigorous process. Most of the design and review should occur as the program is written. ... Monitor progress on the project by talking to the individual programmers as [code] is being written. ... You must trust developers on the project to create a good product. ... Sometimes there are failures. ... The important thing is to fail quickly so you have time to find another approach. ... Developers must also feel free to say what they think to their supervisor. ... Managers should be the best programmers; ...There should be no overtime pay. ... Use profit-sharing and bonuses to get awesome products. ... Developers should each get their own office. ... Eliminate the dress code. Avoid meetings at all costs. ... Writing software is a lot like writing a book. Almost anyone can write garbage; very few can write a best-seller.”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 155-156.
Keywords: Importance_quotes Programmer_quotes Responsibility_quotes Control_quotes Programming_quotes Function_quotes Design_quotes Review_quotes Rigorous_quotes Heavy_quotes Methodology_quotes Monitoring_quotes Progress_quotes Project_quotes Communication_quotes Trust_quotes Development_quotes Failure_quotes Quickness_quotes Thinking_quotes Expression_quotes Overtime_quotes Management_quotes Profit_Sharing_quotes Bonus_quotes Product_quotes Excellence_quotes Office_quotes Dress_Code_quotes Meeting_quotes Software_quotes Writing_quotes Garbage_quotes Best_Seller_quotes Compensation_quotes Eliminate_quotes Occur_quotes Coding_quotes Talk_quotes Code_quotes Developer_quotes Create_quotes Good_quotes Say_quotes Think_quotes Supervisor_quotes Manager_quotes Best_quotes Awesome_quotes Book_quotes

Winston_Churchill

Never Give In

“Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never — in nothing, great or small, large or petty — never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”
  • Source: Winston Churchill in a speech delivered 1941-10-29 at Harrow School, his old alma mater in London.
Keywords: Never_quotes Give_quotes In_quotes Nothing_quotes Great_quotes Small_quotes Large_quotes Petty_quotes Except_quotes Conviction_quotes Honour_quotes Good_quotes Sense_quotes Yield_quotes Force_quotes Apparent_quotes Overwhelm_quotes Might_quotes Enemy_quotes

Alistair_Cockburn

People Characteristics

"People, as active devices, have success modes and failure modes. The following are the main ones that I have named and used to date:
1. People are communicating beings, doing best face-to-face, in person, with real-time question and answer.
2. People have trouble acting consistently over time.
3. People are highly variable, varying from day to day and place to place.
4. People generally want to be good citizens, are good at looking around, taking initiative, and doing 'whatever is needed' to get the project to work.
There are other characteristics that I won’t expand here:
- People need both think time and communicating opportunities...
- People work well from examples...
- People prefer to fail conservatively than to risk succeeding differently; prefer to invent than to research, can only keep a small amount in their heads, and do make mistakes, and find it hard to change their habits.
- Individual personalities easily dominate a project.
- A person’s personality profile strongly affects their ability to perform specific assignments."
Keywords: People_quotes Success_quotes Failure_quotes Communication_quotes Proximity_quotes Real_Time_quotes Question_quotes Consistency_quotes Time_quotes Variability_quotes Citizen_quotes Good_quotes Observation_quotes Flexibility_quotes Altruism_quotes Conservative_quotes Initiative_quotes Project_quotes Risk_quotes Differences_quotes Invention_quotes Innovation_quotes Research_quotes Thinking_quotes Habit_quotes Personality_quotes Ability_quotes Limitation_quotes Consciousness_quotes Cognition_quotes Mistake_quotes Hard_quotes Domination_quotes Assignment_quotes Active_quotes Device_quotes Mode_quotes Beings_quotes Face_quotes Person_quotes Answer_quotes Trouble_quotes Day_quotes Place_quotes Look_quotes Need_quotes Work_quotes Characteristic_quotes Opportunity_quotes Example_quotes Fail_quotes Head_quotes Change_quotes Profile_quotes Affect_quotes Perform_quotes

Charles_Darwin

Good Observer Theory

"I have an old belief that a good observer really means a good theorist."
Keywords: Belief_quotes Observation_quotes Theory_quotes Good_quotes

Peter_Drucker

Free Enterprise

“Free enterprise cannot be justified as being good for business. It can be justified only as being good for society.”
  • Source: Peter Drucker, “The Practice of Management” New York, Harper, 1st ed. 1954 ; Routledge, 2012, p. 41.
Keywords: Free_quotes Enterprise_quotes Justification_quotes Good_quotes Business_quotes Society_quotes

Change as Order

“We no longer even understand the question whether change is by itself good or bad, ... We start out with the axiom that it is the norm. We do not see change as altering the order... We see change as being order itself - indeed the only order we can comprehend today is a dynamic, a moving, a changing one.”
  • Source: Peter F. Drucker, “Landmarks of Tomorrow: A Report on the New 'Post-Modern' World”, New York: Harper & Row, 1959. p. 22.
Keywords: Long_quotes Understanding_quotes Question_quotes Change_quotes Good_quotes Bad_quotes Start_quotes Axiom_quotes Norms_quotes Alteration_quotes Order_quotes Being_quotes Comprehend_quotes Dynamic_quotes Move_quotes

Freeman_Dyson

Experts and Amateurs

“There is good reason to pay more attention to scientific experts than to amateurs, so long as science is based on experiments. Only trained experts can do experiments with the care and precision that experiments demand. Expert experimenters are not infallible, but they are less fallible than amateurs.”
  • Source: Freeman Dyson [book/author]; “Dreams of Earth and Sky” [title]; 191 [page]; New York Review Books [publisher]; First [edition]; 2015 [pubdate]; New York, NY [publoc]; 978-1590178546 [isbn].
Keywords: Good_quotes Reason_quotes Pay_quotes Attention_quotes Scientific_quotes Expert_quotes Amateur_quotes Base_quotes Experiment_quotes Train_quotes Care_quotes Precision_quotes Demand_quotes Infallible_quotes Fallible_quotes


Arthur_Eddington

Perfect and Good

“'Perfect' is not so much the superlative of 'good', as a 'good' which has overreached itself and defeated its own aims.”
Keywords: Perfect_quotes Good_quotes Overreach_quotes Defeat_quotes Aim_quotes Purpose_quotes

Albert_Einstein

Mysterious

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.”
  • Source:
    • Albert Einstein in his ‘The World as I See It’, later published in 1931 in the book ‘Living Philosophies’, ISBN 978-0404591281.
Keywords: Most_quotes Beauty_quotes Thing_quotes Experience_quotes Mysterious_quotes Source_quotes All_quotes True_quotes Art_quotes Science_quotes Emotion_quotes Stranger_quotes Pause_quotes Wonder_quotes Stand_quotes Rapt_quotes Awe_quotes Good_quotes Dead_quotes Eye_quotes Close_quotes

Epicurus

Tetrapharmakos

“Don't fear god;
 Don't worry about death;
 What is good is easy to get;
 What is terrible is easy to endure.”
  • Greek:
    "Ἄφοβον ὁ θεός
    ἀνύποπτον ὁ θάνατος
    καὶ τἀγαθὸν μὲν εὔκτητον
    τὸ δὲ δεινὸν εὐεκκαρτέρητον"
  • Note: The "Tetrapharmakos" (τετραφάρμακος), or "The four-part cure" of Epicurus, from the 'Herculaneum Papyrus', 1005, 4.9–14 of Philodemus, as translated in The Epicurus Reader: Selected Writings and Testimonia (1994) edited by D. S. Hutchinson, p. vi
  • Source: Attributed to Epicurus by Philodemus, Herculaneum Papyrus, 1005, 4.9–14 (79 CE).
Keywords: Fear_quotes Deity_quotes Worry_quotes Pain_quotes Death_quotes Optimism_quotes Law_quotes God_quotes Good_quotes Easy_quotes Terrible_quotes Endure_quotes

Glenn_Frank

Journalism and Facts

"Journalism must find the facts, it must not prejudge things in terms of conservatism or liberalism or radicalism; it must not decide in advance that it is to be conformist or non-conformist; it cannot fly in the face of facts without courting ultimate disaster. Journalism must focus the facts; facts are not important for their own sake; they are important only as a basis for action; journalism must focus the facts it finds upon the issues its readers face. Journalism must filter the facts; it must with conscientious care separate the facts from admixtures of prejudice, passion, partisanship, and selfish interest; facts that are diluted, colored, or perverted are valueless as a basis for action. Journalism must face the facts; it must learn that the energy spent in trying to find ways to get around, under, or over the facts is wasted energy; facts have a ruthless way of winning the day sooner or later. Journalism must follow the facts; journalism must say of facts as Job said, of God: though they slay us, yet shall we trust them; if the facts threaten to upset a paper's cherished policy, it always pays the journalist to reexamine his policy; that way lies realism, and realism is the ultimate good."
  • Source: Glenn Frank, spoken during an address as president of the Wisconsin local chapter of Theta Sigma Phi, at its first annual Matrix Table (9 Jan 1926). quoted in 'Journalism News and Notes', in Robert S. Crawford (ed.), The Wisconsin Alumni Magazine (Feb 1926), 27, No. 4, 101.
Keywords: Journalism_quotes Fact_quotes Find_quotes Prejudice_quotes Conservative_quotes Liberal_quotes Radical_quotes Conformity_quotes Disaster_quotes Focus_quotes Importance_quotes Action_quotes Face_quotes Careful_quotes Filter_quotes Separation_quotes Passion_quotes Partisanship_quotes Self-Interest_quotes Dilution_quotes Color_quotes Perverted_quotes Value_quotes Energy_quotes Ruthless_quotes Winning_quotes Day_quotes Follow_quotes Trust_quotes Policy_quotes Realism_quotes Good_quotes Issue_quotes Conscientious_quotes Mixture_quotes Waste_quotes Job(topic)_quotes Slay_quotes Treat_quotes Newspaper_quotes Cherish_quotes Pay_quotes Reexamine_quotes Ultimate_quotes

French_Proverbs

Enemy of the Good

“The Greatest Enemy of the Good is the Better.”
  • Source: French proverb shared by G.W.F. Hegel in his book 'Elements of the Philosophy of Right', originally written in 1820, republished in 1991 by Cambridge University Press, translated by H. B. Nisbet.
Keywords: Enemy_quotes Good_quotes Better_quotes Greatest_quotes

Joseph_Heller

Lousy Earth

“What a lousy earth! He wondered how many people were destitute that same night even in his own prosperous country, how many homes were shanties, how many husbands were drunk and wives socked, and how many children were bullied, abused or abandoned. How many families hungered for food they could not afford to buy? How many hearts were broken? How many suicides would take place that same night, how many people would go insane? How many cockroaches and landlords would triumph? How many winners were losers, successes failures, rich men poor men? How many wise guys were stupid? How many happy endings were unhappy endings? How many honest men were liars, brave men cowards, loyal men traitors, how many sainted men were corrupt, how many people in positions of trust had sold their souls to blackguards for petty cash, how many had never had souls? How many straight-and-narrow paths were crooked paths? How many best families were worst families and how many good people were bad people? When you added them all up and then subtracted, you might be left with only the children, and perhaps with Albert Einstein and an old violinist or sculptor somewhere.”
  • Source: Heller, Joseph. 'Catch-22: 50th Anniversary Edition'. Chapter 39 'The Eternal City', page 483. Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.
Keywords: Lousy_quotes Earth_quotes Wonder_quotes People_quotes Destitute_quotes Night_quotes Country_quotes Home_quotes Shanty_quotes Husband_quotes Drunk_quotes Wife_quotes Socked_quotes Children_quotes Bully_quotes Abuse_quotes Abandoned_quotes Family_quotes Hungry_quotes Food_quotes Afford_quotes Buy_quotes Heart_quotes Broken_quotes Suicide_quotes Insanity_quotes Cockroach_quotes Landlord_quotes Triumph_quotes Win_quotes Lose_quotes Success_quotes Failure_quotes Rich_quotes Poor_quotes Men_quotes Wise_quotes Stupid_quotes Happy_quotes Ending_quotes Honest_quotes Liar_quotes Brave_quotes Coward_quotes Loyal_quotes Traitor_quotes Saint_quotes Corrupt_quotes Position_quotes Trust_quotes Sell_quotes Soul_quotes Blackguards_quotes Petty_quotes Cash_quotes Straight_quotes Narrow_quotes Crooked_quotes Path_quotes Good_quotes Bad_quotes Addition_quotes Subtraction_quotes Einstein(topic)_quotes Old_quotes Violin_quotes Sculptor_quotes

Sabine_Hossenfelder

Answers and Explanations

“During more than a decade in public outreach, I noticed that physicists are really good at answering questions, but really bad at explaining why anyone should care about their answers.”
  • Source: Hossenfelder, Sabine. Existential Physics: A Scientist's Guide to Life's Biggest Questions (p. xiii). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Keywords: Public_quotes Outreach_quotes Physicist_quotes Good_quotes Answer_quotes Bad_quotes Explain_quotes Care_quotes

Carl_Jung

Sad Truth

“The sad truth is that man's real life consists of a complex of inexorable opposites — day and night, birth and death, happiness and misery, good and evil. We are not even sure that one will prevail against the other, that good will overcome evil, or joy defeat pain. Life is a battleground. It always has been, and always will be; and if it were not so, existence would come to an end.”
  • Source: Written by Carl G. Jung in Part 1 'Approaching the Unconscious' of the book 'Man and His Symbols' edited by Carl Jung and M.-L. von Franz. Published 1964 by J. G. Ferguson Publishing. ISBN 0-385-05221-9. Page 85.
Keywords: Sad_quotes Truth_quotes Man_quotes Humanity_quotes Real_quotes Life_quotes Complex_quotes Inexorable_quotes Opposite_quotes Day_quotes Night_quotes Birth_quotes Death_quotes Happiness_quotes Misery_quotes Good_quotes Evil_quotes Sure_quotes Prevail_quotes Against_quotes Overcome_quotes Joy_quotes Defeat_quotes Pain_quotes Battleground_quotes Always_quotes Be_quotes Existence_quotes Come_quotes End_quotes

Nicholas_Kristof

Confirmation Bias

“There’s pretty good evidence that we generally don’t truly want good information — but rather information that confirms our prejudices. We may believe intellectually in the clash of opinions, but in practice we like to embed ourselves in the reassuring womb of an echo chamber.”
  • Source: Nicholas D. Kristof, In New York Times (18 Mar 2009).
Keywords: Good_quotes Evidence_quotes Want_quotes Information_quotes Confirmation_quotes Bias_quotes Belief_quotes Intellectualism_quotes Prejudice_quotes Conflict_quotes Clash_quotes Opinion_quotes Reassurance_quotes Womb_quotes Echo_quotes Chamber_quotes Practice_quotes Embed_quotes Like_quotes Reassure_quotes

Laozi

Good Scientist

“A good scientist has freed himself of concepts and keeps his mind open to what is.”
  • Source: Laozi in “Tao Te Ching”, Ch. 1, as translated by Thomas Cleary (2004).
Keywords: Good_quotes Scientist_quotes Free_quotes Concept_quotes Keep_quotes Mind_quotes Open_quotes

Ernst_Mach

Abstract Matter

“To us investigators, the concept 'soul' is irrelevant and a matter for laughter. But matter is an abstraction of exactly the same kind, just as good and just as bad as it is. We know as much about the soul as we do of matter.”
  • Source: Ernst Mach, 'Die Geschichte und die Wurzel des Satzes von der Erhaltung der Arbeit' (1872). Trans. Philip E. Jourdain, History and Root of the Principle of the Conservation of Energy (1911), 48.
Keywords: Investigation_quotes Soul_quotes Conceptual_quotes Irrelevant_quotes Matter_quotes Laughter_quotes Abstraction_quotes Exact_quotes Good_quotes Bad_quotes

Robert_K_Merton

Certified Knowledge

”The institutional goal of science is the extension of certified knowledge. The technical methods employed toward this end provide the relevant definition of knowledge: empirically confirmed and logically consistent predictions. The institutional imperatives (mores) derive from the goal and the methods. The entire structure of technical and moral norms implements the final objective. The technical norm of empirical evidence, adequate, valid and reliable, is a prerequisite for sustained true prediction; the technical norm of logical consistency, a prerequisite for systematic and valid prediction. The mores of science possess a methodologic rationale, but they are binding, not only because they are procedurally efficient, but because they are believed right and good. They are moral as well as technical prescriptions. Four sets of institutional imperatives – universalism, communism, disinterestedness, organized skepticism – comprise the ethos of modern science.”
  • Source: Robert King Merton, Social Theory and Social Structure (1957), 552-3.
Keywords: Institution_quotes Goal_quotes Science_quotes Extension_quotes Certified_quotes Knowledge_quotes Technology_quotes Methodology_quotes Employment_quotes End_quotes Relevance_quotes Definition_quotes Empirical_quotes Confirmation_quotes Logic_quotes Consistency_quotes Prediction_quotes Imperative_quotes Derive_quotes Structure_quotes Morality_quotes Norms_quotes Implementation_quotes Final_quotes Objectives_quotes Evidence_quotes Adequate_quotes Validity_quotes Reliability_quotes Prerequisite_quotes Sustain_quotes Truth_quotes System_quotes Rational_quotes Mores_quotes Bind_quotes Procedure_quotes Efficiency_quotes Belief_quotes Right_quotes Good_quotes Prescription_quotes Universalism_quotes Communism_quotes Disinterest_quotes Skeptical_quotes Composition_quotes Ethos_quotes Modern_quotes

Abraham_Pais

Speculation

“Physicists, good physicists, enjoy scientific speculation in private, but tend to frown upon it when done in public. They are conservative revolutionaries, resisting innovation as long as possible at all intellectual cost, but embracing it when the evidence is incontrovertible - or, if they do not, physics tends to pass them by.”
Keywords: Physics_quotes Good_quotes Enjoy_quotes Speculation_quotes Privacy_quotes Frown_quotes Public_quotes Conservative_quotes Revolution_quotes Resistance_quotes Innovation_quotes Intellectualism_quotes Cost_quotes Embrace_quotes Evidence_quotes Incontrovertible_quotes Passing_quotes Science_quotes

Blaise_Pascal

Pascal's Wager

“A game is on, at the other end of this infinite distance, and heads or tails will turn up. What will you wager? According to reason you cannot leave either; according to reason you cannot leave either undone... Yes, but wager you must; there is no option, you have embarked on it. So which will you have. Come. Since you must choose, let us see what concerns you least. You have two things to lose: truth and good, and two things to stake: your reason and your will, your knowledge and your happiness. And your nature has two things to shun: error and misery. Your reason does not suffer by your choosing one more than the other, for you must choose. That is one point cleared. But your happiness? Let us weigh gain and loss in calling heads that God is. Reckon these two chances: if you win, you win all; if you lose, you lose naught. Then do not hesitate, wager that He is.”
  • Source: Blaise Pascal, Pensées (1670), Section I, aphorism 223. In H. F. Stewart (ed.), Pascal's Pensées (1950), 117-119.
Keywords: Game_quotes Infinity_quotes Distance_quotes Head_quotes Tail_quotes Wager_quotes Chance_quotes Reason_quotes Option_quotes Embark_quotes Choice_quotes Concern_quotes Loss_quotes Truth_quotes Good_quotes Stake_quotes Will_quotes Knowledge_quotes Happiness_quotes Nature_quotes Shun_quotes Error_quotes Misery_quotes Suffering_quotes Gain_quotes God_quotes Deity_quotes Winning_quotes Hesitate_quotes Weigh_quotes

Paul_the_Apostle

Prove all Things (1 Thessalonians 5:21)

(21) “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”
Keywords: Certainty_quotes Proof_quotes Hold_quotes Good_quotes

Alan_Perlis

Command Language

“A good system can't have a weak command language.”
Keywords: Good_quotes System_quotes Weakness_quotes Command_quotes Language_quotes

Ideas and the Semantic Gulf

“So many good ideas are never heard from again once they embark in a voyage on the semantic gulf.”
Keywords: Idea_quotes Innovation_quotes Good_quotes Hearing_quotes Embark_quotes Voyage_quotes Semantic_quotes Gulf_quotes

Responsible Ideas

“Don't have good ideas if you aren't willing to be responsible for them.”
Keywords: Good_quotes Idea_quotes Creativity_quotes Willing_quotes Responsibility_quotes

Steven_Pinker

Neurons to Consciousness

“None of us has a brain that can actually put us in touch with reality unaided with truth. I've just shown you a bunch of gadgetry that responds to things that are essential to our survival, things that prevent us from falling off cliffs and bumping into trees. But they don't actually correspond to any clear description of the world as it is. So we have, for example, circuitry that responds to the edges rather than the physical distribution of light, because edges are important, that's where objects leave off and their backgrounds begin. Moreover, they can be fooled, as I did with each one of you. That since our neural circuitry does consist of a mechanism, not a pipeline to the truth or a window onto objective reality. That is naïve realism we know is false because there are illusions. You can't just trust your senses. That means we need some way of augmenting the faculties that nature gave us to make our beliefs as accurate as possible. Which of course is why the early modern philosophers made such a big deal of visual illusions. They said you can't just open your eyes and see the world as it is. Look at all these illusions. So what we do, what gives some of us confidence that our beliefs are objectively true is that they are part of an institutional infrastructure of testing and criticism and logic and determining which hypotheses withstand criticism and attempts at refutation. Devising exotic arrangements of reality to reflect the way reality is put together, namely experiments. Thanks to this huge network of minds, each one of them making up for deficits of all the others, we like to think that we have a collective grasp on truth that none of us individually can have. But of course, it's always fallible. The religious beliefs I think were actually pretty reasonable hypotheses in earlier states of our collective knowledge. Even Richard Dawkins said that before Darwin he probably would have been a creationist because the cosmic engineer was the only available explanation for the obvious adaptive complexity of living things. I would add that prior to the advent of modern neuroscience I probably would have believed in souls because there was no better explanation for phenomena such as that people respond intelligently to their environments. When you dream some part of you is up and about the world while your body is in bed the whole time. That seems like there must be some part of you that can leave your body. When a person suddenly dies some kind of animating force no longer seems to be animating the body that was there just a few minutes ago. So the soul hypothesis is not a stupid or irrational belief, nor is creationism if it's the best that you have. Now, of course, we can do better. But doing better in part depends not just on this cumulative weight of evidence and argument. But because few of us can actually reconstruct the scientific observations that justify the theory of natural selection or the theory of neural networks, all of us, at least a little bit, take it on faith in the following sense; that there is a community that you trust enough because when they have been challenged to defend their beliefs they can connect them to reality. They have shown that it isn't magic. That they have given reason to trust them because they've convinced you that they're the mores of their culture, of their scientific culture, designed so that they will find true things and weed out false things. If you don't have a degree of solidarity or trust, if you think that scientists are all in cahoots with big corporations or are trying to tear down all faith and values and meaning and you simply refuse to follow through the very long chain of deduction that connects the claims to the experiments, then you'll naturally reject it just because it's not your tribe. For you and me scientists are our tribe and we're apt to give them some credibility, indeed some credulousness, knowing that if ever challenged it would be repaid. But unless you trace that through it can be all too easy to reject the conclusions of science, and indeed a number of studies have shown that contrary to the common belief that people believe in falsehoods, such as that vaccines cause autism or that humans were created five thousand years ago or that the burning of fossil fuels has no effect on global temperatures, it turns out that people with those beliefs that we have every reason to believe are false are no more scientifically naïve on average than people that have beliefs that are scientifically justified. You give a test on evolution to a bunch of people who believe in evolution, give it to a bunch of creationists, there's not much difference in how well they score. In fact, often they are equal. Likewise, the typical grasp of climate science among someone who signs on to the scientific consensus is not much better than the adamant deniers. That kind of dashes the hope that simply by increasing the quality of science education you will lead people to more accurate beliefs. There, in addition, has to be a dissociation of who you think are the good guys and who are the bad guys from who has the best claims to truth. That's what it depends on.”
Keywords: Accuracy_quotes Adament_quotes Adaptability_quotes Addition_quotes Advent_quotes Aid_quotes Animate_quotes Argue_quotes Arrangement_quotes Attempt_quotes Augment_quotes Autism_quotes Availability_quotes Background_quotes Bad_quotes Bed_quotes Belief_quotes Best_quotes Big_quotes Body_quotes Brain_quotes Bump_quotes Bunch_quotes Burn_quotes Cahoot_quotes Chain_quotes Challenge_quotes Circuit_quotes Claim_quotes Clear_quotes Cliff_quotes Climate_quotes Collective_quotes Complexity_quotes Common_quotes Community_quotes Conclusion_quotes Confidence_quotes Connection_quotes Consensus_quotes Consist_quotes Contrary_quotes Convince_quotes Cooperation_quotes Corporation_quotes Correspondence_quotes Cosmic_quotes Creationism_quotes Credibility_quotes Criticism_quotes Culture_quotes Cumulative_quotes Dash_quotes Deal_quotes Death_quotes Deception_quotes Deduction_quotes Defence_quotes Deficit_quotes Degree_quotes Deny_quotes Dependence_quotes Description_quotes Design_quotes Determine_quotes Devise_quotes Differences_quotes Dissociation_quotes Distribution_quotes Dreaming_quotes Early_quotes Easy_quotes Edge_quotes Education_quotes Effect_quotes Engineer_quotes Environment_quotes Essential_quotes Evidence_quotes Evolution_quotes Exotic_quotes Experiment_quotes Explanation_quotes Eye_quotes Faculty_quotes Faith_quotes Fall_quotes Fallible_quotes False_quotes Few_quotes Find_quotes Follow_quotes Fool_quotes Force_quotes Fossil_quotes Fuel_quotes Gadget_quotes Global_quotes Good_quotes Grasp_quotes Guy_quotes Huge_quotes Hypothesis_quotes Illusion_quotes Importance_quotes Increasing_quotes Individual_quotes Infrastructure_quotes Institution_quotes Intelligence_quotes Irrational_quotes Justification_quotes Knowledge_quotes Leave_quotes Life_quotes Light_quotes Logic_quotes Long_quotes Magic_quotes Meaning_quotes Mechanism_quotes Mind_quotes Modern_quotes Moral_quotes Naïve_quotes Nature_quotes Natural_Selection_quotes Network_quotes Neural_quotes Neuroscience_quotes Object_quotes Objectivity_quotes Observation_quotes Obvious_quotes Part_quotes People_quotes Perception_quotes Phenomena_quotes Philosophy_quotes Physical_quotes Pipeline_quotes Possibility_quotes Prehistoric_quotes Prevent_quotes Reality_quotes Reason_quotes Reconstruct_quotes Reflection_quotes Refuse_quotes Refutation_quotes Rejection_quotes Religion_quotes Repay_quotes Respond_quotes Science_quotes Scientist_quotes Score_quotes Seem_quotes Selection_quotes Sense_quotes Show_quotes Sight_quotes Solidarity_quotes Soul_quotes State_quotes Study_quotes Stupidity_quotes Survival_quotes Tear_quotes Temperature_quotes Testing_quotes Theory_quotes Thinking_quotes Time_quotes Touch_quotes Trace_quotes Tree_quotes Tribal_quotes Trust_quotes Truth_quotes Try_quotes Typical_quotes Unaided_quotes Vaccine_quotes Value_quotes Visual_quotes Weed_quotes Weight_quotes Whole_quotes Window_quotes Withstand_quotes World_quotes

Thinking is Computation

“Thinking is computation, I claim, but that does not mean that the computer is a good metaphor for the mind.”
  • Source: Steven Pinker (1997). How the Mind Works. New York, NY: W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-06973-0; eISBN 978-0-393-06973-0. Chapter 1 Section Reverse-Engineering the Psyche.
Keywords: Thinking_quotes Computation_quotes Claim_quotes Meaning_quotes Computer_quotes Good_quotes Metaphor_quotes Mind_quotes

Good Science

“Good science is pedantic, expensive, and subversive.”
  • Source: Steven Pinker (1997). How the Mind Works. New York, NY: W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-06973-0; eISBN 978-0-393-06973-0. Chapter 5 Section: Ecological Intelligence.
Keywords: Good_quotes Science_quotes Pedantic_quotes Expense_quotes Subversive_quotes

Robert_M_Pirsig

Traditional Scientific Method

“Traditional scientific method has always been at the very best, 20-20 hindsight. It's good for seeing where you've been. It's good for testing the truth of what you think you know, but it can't tell you where you ought to go.”
  • Source: Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974), 251.
Keywords: Tradition_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Science_quotes Best_quotes Hindsight_quotes Sight_quotes Good_quotes Testing_quotes Truth_quotes Thinking_quotes Knowledge_quotes Tell_quotes Go_quotes Method_quotes

Karl_Popper

Considerations

“These considerations led me in the winter of 1919-20 to conclusions which I may now reformulate as follows.
1. Confirmation is easy.
2. Only risky predictions should count.
3. A good theory is a prohibition.
4. A theory which is not refutable is not scientific.
5. A genuine test is an attempt to falsify a theory.
6. Confirming evidence should not count unless it attempted to falsify.
7. Some genuine testable theories, when found to be false, are still upheld by their admirers.”
Keywords: Consideration_quotes Conclusion_quotes Reformulate_quotes Confirmation_quotes Easy_quotes Risk_quotes Prediction_quotes Count_quotes Good_quotes Theory_quotes Prohibition_quotes Refutation_quotes Science_quotes Genuine_quotes Testing_quotes Attempt_quotes Falsification_quotes Evidence_quotes False_quotes Uphold_quotes Admire_quotes

Rittel_and_Webber

No Correct nor Optimal

“In a pluralistic society there is nothing like the undisputable public good, there is no objective definition of equity, policies that respond to social problems cannot be meaningfully correct or false, and it makes no sense to talk about 'optimal solutions' to social problems unless severe qualifications are imposed first. Even worse, there are no 'solutions' in the sense of definitive and objective answers.”
Keywords: Pluralistic_quotes Society_quotes Undisputable_quotes Objective_quotes Definition_quotes Equity_quotes Policy_quotes Response_quotes Problem_quotes Good_quotes Meaning_quotes Correct_quotes False_quotes Sense_quotes Talk_quotes Optimal_quotes Qualification_quotes Impose_quotes Solution_quotes Answer_quotes Public_quotes

Bertrand_Russell

Savage Controversies

“The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way. Persecution is used in theology, not in arithmetic.”
  • Source: Bertrand Russell, Unpopular Essays (1950, 2007), 104.
Keywords: Savage_quotes Controversy_quotes Matter_quotes Good_quotes Evidence_quotes Way_quotes Persecution_quotes Theology_quotes Arithmetic_quotes Mathematics_quotes

Carl_Sagan

Changing Opinion

“In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.”
  • Source: Carl Sagan, Keynote address at CSICOP conference, 1987
Keywords: Science_quotes Scientist_quotes Often_quotes Happen_quotes Speak_quotes Good_quotes Argue_quotes Position_quotes Mistake_quotes Bias_quotes Change_quotes Mind_quotes Hearing_quotes Old_quotes View_quotes Do_quotes Humanity_quotes Pain_quotes Day_quotes Recall_quotes Political_quotes Religion_quotes

Technology Decisions

“...we live in an age based on science and technology with formidable technological powers... and if we don't understand it, by we I mean the general public, if it's something that - 'Oh, I'm not good at that. I don't know anything about it' then who is making all the decisions about science and technology that are going to determine what kind of future our children live in?”
  • Source: Carl Sagen speaking in an video entitled 'CARL SAGEN - A Way of Thinking' posted on YouTube at https://youtu.be/J1cNaFG1VII , at 00:00:22 in video. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
Keywords: Life_quotes Age_quotes Base_quotes Science_quotes Technology_quotes Formidable_quotes Power_quotes Understanding_quotes Generality_quotes Public_quotes Good_quotes Knowledge_quotes Decision_quotes Determine_quotes Kind_quotes Future_quotes Children_quotes

Herbert_Simon

Artificial Intelligence Satisfice

“The alternative methods provided by AI, most often in the form of heuristic search (selective search using rules of thumb), find decisions that are 'good enough', that satisfice.”
Keywords: Artificial_Intelligence_quotes Alternative_quotes Methodology_quotes Provide_quotes Form_quotes Heuristic_quotes Search_quotes Selection_quotes Rule_quotes Thumb_quotes Decision_quotes Find_quotes Good_quotes Satisfice_quotes Satisfaction_quotes Intelligence_quotes

Satisficer

“The real economic actor is in fact a satisficer, a person who accepts 'good enough' alternatives, not because less is preferred to more but because there is no choice.”
Keywords: Reality_quotes Economics_quotes Actor_quotes Fact_quotes Satisfice_quotes Person_quotes Acceptance_quotes Good_quotes Alternative_quotes Choice_quotes Preference_quotes Enough_quotes

Solomon

Eat and Drink (Ecclesiastes 2:24)

(24) “There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour.”
Keywords: Humanity_quotes Better_quotes Eat_quotes Drink_quotes Soul_quotes Good_quotes Labor_quotes Man_quotes

Baruch_Spinoza

Good and Evil

“Experience day by day protested and showed by infinite examples, that good and evil fortunes fall to the lot of pious and impious alike; still they would not abandon their inveterate prejudice, for it was more easy for them to class such contradictions among other unknown things of whose use they were ignorant, and thus to retain their actual and innate condition of ignorance, than to destroy the whole fabric of their reasoning and start afresh. They therefore laid down as an axiom, that God's judgments far transcend human understanding. Such a doctrine might well have sufficed to conceal the truth from the human race for all eternity, if mathematics had not furnished another standard of verity in considering solely the essence and properties of figures without regard to their final causes.”
  • Source: A book. Entitled Ethics. Also entitled Ethica. Written by Baruch Spinoza. Originally published 1677. Translated from Latin by R. H. M. Elwes. Part I, Appendix.
Keywords: Ethics_quotes Deity_quotes Religion_quotes Prejudice_quotes Ignorance_quotes Reason_quotes Epistemology_quotes Mathematics_quotes Justice_quotes Causality_quotes Experience_quotes Day_quotes Protest_quotes Show_quotes Infinite_quotes Good_quotes Evil_quotes Fortune_quotes Fall_quotes Lot_quotes Pious_quotes Impious_quotes Abandon_quotes Inveterate_quotes Easy_quotes Contradiction_quotes Unknown_quotes Retain_quotes Actual_quotes Innate_quotes Condition_quotes Destroy_quotes Fabric_quotes Start_quotes Afresh_quotes Laid_quotes Axiom_quotes God_quotes Judgment_quotes Transcend_quotes Human_quotes Understand_quotes Doctrine_quotes Suffice_quotes Conceal_quotes Truth_quotes Race_quotes Eternity_quotes Furnish_quotes Standard_quotes Verity_quotes Consider_quotes Essence_quotes Property_quotes Figure_quotes Regard_quotes Final_quotes

John_Steinbeck

Great Difficulty with Good Hypothesis

“There is one great difficulty with a good hypothesis. When it is completed and rounded, the corners smooth and the content cohesive and coherent, it is likely to become a thing in itself, a work of art. It is then like a finished sonnet or a painting completed. One hates to disturb it. Even if subsequent information should shoot a hole in it, one hates to tear it down because it once was beautiful and whole. One of our leading scientists, having reasoned a reef in the Pacific, was unable for a long time to reconcile the lack of a reef, indicated by soundings, with the reef his mind told him was there.”
  • Source: John Steinbeck, In John Steinbeck and Edward Flanders Ricketts Sea of Cortez: a Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research (1941), 179-80.
Keywords: Difficulty_quotes Good_quotes Hypothesis_quotes Completion_quotes Round_quotes Corner_quotes Smooth_quotes Content_quotes Cohesion_quotes Coherence_quotes Work_quotes Art_quotes Finishing_quotes Sonnet_quotes Painting_quotes Hate_quotes Disturb_quotes Subsequent_quotes Information_quotes Shoot_quotes Hole_quotes Tear_quotes Down_quotes Beauty_quotes Whole_quotes Lead_quotes Scientist_quotes Reason_quotes Reef_quotes Pacific_quotes Unable_quotes Long_quotes Time_quotes Reconciliation_quotes Lack_quotes Indication_quotes Sound_quotes Mind_quotes Tell_quotes There_quotes

Marilyn_Strathern

Measures

“When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.”
  • Source: Strathern, Marilyn (1997). "'Improving ratings': audit in the British University system". European Review. 5(3). John Wiley & Sons: 305–321. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1234-981X(199707)5:3<305::AID-EURO184>3.0.CO;2-4. S2CID 145644958.

Frederick_Winslow_Taylor

Systematic Soldiering

“The greater part of the systematic soldiering, however, is done by the men with the deliberate object of keeping their employers ignorant of how fast work can be done. So universal is soldiering for this purpose, or under any of the ordinary systems of compensating labor, who does not devote a considerable part of his time to studying just how slowly he can work and still convince his employer that he is going at a good pace.”
  • Source: F.W. Taylor (1903) "Shop management; a paper read before the American society of mechanical engineers, " in: Transactions of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers 24: 1337-1480. p. 1351.
Keywords: Productivity_quotes Soldiering_quotes Ignorance_quotes Employment_quotes Labor_quotes Deception_quotes Worker_quotes Great_quotes Part_quotes Systematic_quotes Men_quotes Deliberate_quotes Keep_quotes Employer_quotes Fast_quotes Work_quotes Done_quotes Universal_quotes Purpose_quotes Ordinary_quotes System_quotes Compensation_quotes Devote_quotes Considerable_quotes Time_quotes Study_quotes Slow_quotes Convince_quotes Go_quotes Pace_quotes Good_quotes

Great Men Needed

“In the past the man has been first; in the future the system must be first. This in no sense, however, implies that great men are not needed. On the contrary, the first object of any good system must be that of developing first-class men; and under systematic management the best man rises to the top more certainly and more rapidly than ever before.”
  • Source: F.W. Taylor, 1911. Principles of Scientific Management. New York and London, Harper & brothers. p. 7: Introduction.
Keywords: Merit_quotes Worker_quotes Employment_quotes System_quotes First_Class_quotes Scientific_Management_quotes Future_quotes Management_quotes Past_quotes Man_quotes First_quotes Sense_quotes Great_quotes Men_quotes Need_quotes Contrary_quotes Object_quotes Science_quotes Good_quotes Develop_quotes Best_quotes Rise_quotes Top_quotes Certain_quotes Rapid_quotes

Kindly Interest

“...in order to have any hope of obtaining the initiative of his workmen the manager must give some special incentive to his men beyond that which is given to the average of the trade. This incentive can be given in several different ways, as, for example, the hope of rapid promotion or advancement; higher wages, either in the form of generous piece-work prices or of a premium or bonus of some kind for good and rapid work; shorter hours of labor; better surroundings and working conditions than are ordinarily given, etc., and, above all, this special incentive should be accompanied by that personal consideration for, and friendly contact with, his workmen which comes only from a genuine and kindly interest in the welfare of those under him.”
  • Source: F.W. Taylor, 1911. Principles of Scientific Management. New York and London, Harper & brothers. Chapter 1.
Keywords: Employment_quotes Scientific_Management_quotes Interest_quotes Management_quotes Incentive_quotes Compensation_quotes Promotion_quotes Bonus_quotes Labor_quotes Environment_quotes Hours_quotes Friendliness_quotes Kindness_quotes Welfare_quotes Human_Resources_quotes Science_quotes Order_quotes Hope_quotes Obtain_quotes Initiative_quotes Workman_quotes Manager_quotes Special_quotes Men_quotes Beyond_quotes Give_quotes Average_quotes Trade_quotes Different_quotes Rapid_quotes Advancement_quotes Higher_quotes Wage_quotes Generous_quotes Piece_quotes Work_quotes Price_quotes Premium_quotes Good_quotes Short_quotes Better_quotes Surrounding_quotes Condition_quotes Ordinary_quotes Incentive_quotes Accompany_quotes Personal_quotes Consideration_quotes Friendly_quotes Contact_quotes Genuine_quotes Kind_quotes

Shannon_Vallor

AI Danger Us

“We are the source of the danger to ourselves from AI, and this is a good thing —  it means we hold the power to resist, and the power to heal.”
  • Source: From the book “The AI Mirror” by Shannon Vallor. Published 2024 by Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0197759066. Introduction, page 7.
Keywords: AI_quotes Artificial_quotes Intelligence_quotes Source_quotes Danger_quotes Ourself_quotes Good_quotes Thing_quotes Mean_quotes Hold_quotes Power_quotes Resist_quotes Heal_quotes

Gerald_Weinberg

A Good Program

“Most programmers feel that there is such a thing as good programming. Although this feeling may be valid, it does not follow that there is such a thing as a good program. Not, at least, in the sense that we can study the program out of the context in which it was developed and in which it will be used and declare it to have a goodness of 83.72 percent.”
  • Source: Chapter 2. Weinberg, G. M. (2011). The Psychology of Computer Programming (Silver anniversary edition) | 1971. Weinberg & Weinberg.
Keywords: Programmer_quotes Good_quotes Programming_quotes Program_quotes Validity_quotes Context_quotes Development_quotes Usage_quotes Measurement_quotes Feel_quotes Follow_quotes Study_quotes

Bad Managers and Good Programmers

“Bad managers are easier to find than good programmers.”
  • Source: Chapter 5. Weinberg, G. M. (2011). The Psychology of Computer Programming (Silver anniversary edition) | 1971. Weinberg & Weinberg.
Keywords: Bad_quotes Manager_quotes Good_quotes Programmer_quotes Find_quotes Easy_quotes

Technical Leaders

“Leadership, in the sense that social scientists use it, means the ability to influence people. Programmers, being people who tend to value creative work and professional competence, tend to put their stock in people whom they perceive to be good at the things they do. Thus, it is easier to exert leadership over — to influence — programmers by being a soft-spoken programming wizard than by being the world's fastest-talking salesman. When nonprogramming leaders are brought in to be in charge of programming teams, trouble usually brews unless the appointed leader explicitly and implicitly recognizes his incapacity on technical matters. The very worst he can do — and this goes also for a former programmer who has lost touch with the field — is to try to match programming wits with the other members of the team. Although a team might come to respect a leader who openly admitted his programming inexperience, they could only come to ridicule one whose pretense at knowledge was revealed to be a sham.”
  • Source: Chapter 5. Weinberg, G. M. (2011). The Psychology of Computer Programming (Silver anniversary edition) | 1971. Weinberg & Weinberg.
Keywords: Technology_quotes Leadership_quotes Society_quotes Science_quotes Sociology_quotes Ability_quotes Influence_quotes People_quotes Creativity_quotes Professional_quotes Competence_quotes Trust_quotes Good_quotes Skill_quotes Wizard_quotes Programming_quotes Fast_quotes Talking_quotes Salesman_quotes Humility_quotes Respect_quotes Team_quotes Experience_quotes Ridicule_quotes Pretense_quotes Knowledge_quotes Revealing_quotes Sham_quotes Programmer_quotes Stock_quotes Perceive_quotes Soft_quotes Spoken_quotes World_quotes Nonprogramming_quotes Brought_quotes Charge_quotes Trouble_quotes Brew_quotes Appoint_quotes Explicitly_quotes Implicitly_quotes Recognize_quotes Incapacity_quotes Worse_quotes Former_quotes Lost_quotes Touch_quotes Field_quotes Try_quotes Match_quotes Wit_quotes Member_quotes Admit_quotes Inexperience_quotes

Charles_E_Weller

All Good Men

“Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.”
  • Notes: Typing exercise. Originally “Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party.” With the advent of World War II the “country” version became much more popular and was included in many typing exercise books.
Keywords: Now_quotes Time_quotes Good_quotes Men_quotes Come_quotes Aid_quotes Country_quotes

E_O_Wilson

Science and Fantasy

“Much of good science — and perhaps all of great science — has its roots in fantasy.”
  • Source: chapter 5, ‘Letters to a Young Scientist' (2013). Published in 2013 by Liveright Publishing, New York, New York. The Creative Process, page 69. ISBN: 978-0871403773 (hardcover). ISBN: 978-0871403858 (paperback).
Keywords: Good_quotes Science_quotes All_quotes Great_quotes Root_quotes Fantasy_quotes

Edward_Yourdon

What to Do

“Solution: What to Do:
→ Hire the best people you can.
→ Pay special attention to proper training of your people.
→ Provide an exemplary environment in which your people can feel motivated and have fun and do good work.
→ Pay attention to effective project teams.”
  • Source: Edward Yourdon in the book “Decline and Fall of the American Programmer”. Published in 1992 by Prentice Hall. ISBN: 0-13-203670-3. Chapter 3, section 3.5, page 54.
Keywords: Do_quotes Hire_quotes Best_quotes People_quotes Provide_quotes Exemplary_quotes Environment_quotes Feel_quotes Motivation_quotes Fun_quotes Good_quotes Work_quotes Effective_quotes Project_quotes Team_quotes Solution_quotes
Retrieved from "https://motleybytes.com/wiki/index.php?title=Good_quotes&oldid=49825"