Idea quotes

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Douglas_Adams

Scientific Method

“The invention of the scientific method and science is, I'm sure we'll all agree, the most powerful intellectual idea, the most powerful framework for thinking and investigating and understanding and challenging the world around us that there is, and it rests on the premise that any idea is there to be attacked. If it withstands the attack then it lives to fight another day and if it doesn't withstand the attack then down it goes. Religion doesn't seem to work like that.”
  • Source: Douglas Adams. From the speech entitled "Is There an Artificial God?"; spoken on 1998-09; spoken at the "Digital Biota 2" conference' held at Magdelene College Cambridge; online at http://www.biota.org/people/douglasadams/ (accessed 2017).
Keywords: Scientific_Method_quotes Invention_quotes Science_quotes Agreement_quotes Power_quotes Intellectual_quotes Idea_quotes Framework_quotes Thinking_quotes Investigation_quotes Understanding_quotes Challenge_quotes World_quotes Premise_quotes Attack_quotes Fight_quotes Day_quotes Down_quotes Religion_quotes

Claude_Bernard

Hypothesis Theory Reason

“A scientific hypothesis is merely a scientific idea, preconceived or pre-visioned. A theory is merely a scientific idea controlled by experiment. Reasoning merely gives a form to our ideas, so that everything, first and last, leads back to an idea.”
  • Source: From the book "An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine" written by Claude Bernard published in French in 1865 as "Introduction à l'étude de la médecine expérimentale". Translated to English by Henry Copley Greene in 1927 and republished by Henry Shuman, Inc. in 1949. Chapter I, page 26. Available online at https://archive.org/details/b21270557 retrieved 2024.
Keywords: Scientific_quotes Hypothesis_quotes Idea_quotes Preconceive_quotes Vision_quotes Theory_quotes Control_quotes Experiment_quotes Reason_quotes Form_quotes Everything_quotes First_quotes Last_quotes Lead_quotes

True Presentiment

“Men with a presentiment of new truths are rare in all the sciences; most men develop and follow the ideas of a few others.”
  • Source: From the book "An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine" written by Claude Bernard published in French in 1865 as "Introduction à l'étude de la médecine expérimentale". Translated to English by Henry Copley Greene in 1927 and republished by Henry Shuman, Inc. in 1949. Chapter II, page 34. Available online at https://archive.org/details/b21270557 retrieved 2024.
Keywords: Men_quotes Presentiment_quotes New_quotes Truth_quotes Rare_quotes Science_quotes Develop_quotes Follow_quotes Idea_quotes Few_quotes Other_quotes

Alter Theory Not Nature

“The theories which embody our scientific ideas as a whole are, of course, indispensable as representations of science. They should also serve as a basis for new ideas. But as these theories and ideas are by no means immutable truth, one must always be ready to abandon them, to alter them or to exchange them as soon as they cease to represent the truth. In a word, we must alter theory to adapt it to nature, but not nature to adapt it to theory.”
  • Source: From the book "An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine" written by Claude Bernard published in French in 1865 as "Introduction à l'étude de la médecine expérimentale". Translated to English by Henry Copley Greene in 1927 and republished by Henry Shuman, Inc. in 1949. Chapter II, page 39. Available online at https://archive.org/details/b21270557 retrieved 2024.
Keywords: Theory_quotes Embody_quotes Scientific_quotes Idea_quotes Whole_quotes Indispensable_quotes Representation_quotes Science_quotes Serve_quotes Basis_quotes New_quotes Immutable_quotes Truth_quotes Ready_quotes Abandon_quotes Alter_quotes Exchange_quotes Cease_quotes Adapt_quotes Nature_quotes

Bold and Free

“We must be bold and free in setting forth our ideas.”
  • Source: From the book "An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine" written by Claude Bernard published in French in 1865 as "Introduction à l'étude de la médecine expérimentale". Translated to English by Henry Copley Greene in 1927 and republished by Henry Shuman, Inc. in 1949. Chapter II, page 40. Available online at https://archive.org/details/b21270557 retrieved 2024.
Keywords: Bold_quotes Free_quotes Set_quotes Forth_quotes Idea_quotes

Theory Overthrow

“When we have put forward an idea or a theory in science, our object must not be to preserve it by seeking everything that may support it and setting aside everything that may weaken it. On the contrary, we ought to examine with the greatest care the facts which apparently would overthrow it.”
  • Source: From the book "An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine" written by Claude Bernard published in French in 1865 as "Introduction à l'étude de la médecine expérimentale". Translated to English by Henry Copley Greene in 1927 and republished by Henry Shuman, Inc. in 1949. Chapter II, page 40. Available online at https://archive.org/details/b21270557 retrieved 2024.
Keywords: Put_quotes Forward_quotes Idea_quotes Theory_quotes Science_quotes Object_quotes Preserve_quotes Seek_quotes Everything_quotes Support_quotes Set_quotes Aside_quotes Weak_quotes Contrary_quotes Examine_quotes Care_quotes Fact_quotes Apparent_quotes Overthrow_quotes Falsification_quotes

Counterproof

“Experimenters, who see their ideas confirmed by an experiment, should still doubt and require a counterproof. Indeed, proof that a given condition always precedes or accompanies a phenomenon does not warrant concluding with certainty that a given condition is the immediate cause of that phenomenon.”
  • Source: From the book "An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine" written by Claude Bernard published in French in 1865 as "Introduction à l'étude de la médecine expérimentale". Translated to English by Henry Copley Greene in 1927 and republished by Henry Shuman, Inc. in 1949. Chapter II, page 55. Available online at https://archive.org/details/b21270557 retrieved 2024.
Keywords: Experimenter_quotes Idea_quotes Confirm_quotes Experiment_quotes Doubt_quotes Require_quotes Counterproof_quotes Proof_quotes Condition_quotes Always_quotes Precede_quotes Accompany_quotes Phenomenon_quotes Warrant_quotes Conclude_quotes Certainty_quotes Immediate_quotes Cause_quotes

William_Ian_Beardmore_Beveridge

Role of Hypothesis

“The role of hypothesis in research can be discussed more effectively if we consider first some examples of discoveries which originated from hypotheses. One of the best illustrations of such a discovery is provided by the story of Christopher Columbus’ voyage; it has many of the features of a classic discovery in science. (a) He was obsessed with an idea—that since the world is round he could reach the Orient by sailing West, (b) the idea was by no means original, but evidently he had obtained some additional evidence from a sailor blown off his course who claimed to have reached land in the west and returned, (c) he met great difficulties in getting someone to provide the money to enable him to test his idea as well as in the actual carrying out of the experimental voyage, (d) when finally he succeeded he did not find the expected new route, but instead found a whole new world, (e) despite all evidence to the contrary he clung to the bitter end to his hypothesis and believed that he had found the route to the Orient, (f) he got little credit or reward during his lifetime and neither he nor others realized the full implications of his discovery, (g) since his time evidence has been brought forward showing that he was by no means the first European to reach America.”
  • Source: W. I. B. Beveridge in his book ‘The Art of Scientific Investigation’ published in 1950 by William Heinemann, London, page 41.
Keywords: Hypothesis_quotes Research_quotes Discovery_quotes Exploration_quotes Evidence_quotes Money_quotes Experiment_quotes Belief_quotes Perseverance_quotes Reward_quotes Role_quotes Disscussion_quotes Effective_quotes Consider_quotes Example_quotes Originate_quotes Best_quotes Illustration_quotes Provide_quotes Story_quotes Voyage_quotes Feature_quotes Classic_quotes Science_quotes Obsess_quotes Idea_quotes World_quotes Round_quotes Orient_quotes Sail_quotes Original_quotes Obtain_quotes Additional_quotes Sailor_quotes Blow_quotes Course_quotes Claim_quotes Reach_quotes Land_quotes Return_quotes Great_quotes Difficult_quotes Money_quotes Enable_quotes Test_quotes Find_quotes Expect_quotes Route_quotes Despite_quotes Contrary_quotes Cling_quotes Bitter_quotes End_quotes Little_quotes Credit_quotes Lifetime_quotes Realize_quotes Full_quotes Implication_quotes Time_quotes Show_quotes First_quotes European_quotes America_quotes

Max_Born

Experience and Knowledge

“But in practical affairs, particularly in politics, men are needed who combine human experience and interest in human relations with a knowledge of science and technology. Moreover, they must be men of action and not contemplation. I have the impression that no method of education can produce people with all the qualities required. I am haunted by the idea that this break in human civilization, caused by the discovery of the scientific method, may be irreparable.”
  • Source: Max Born, My Life & My Views (1968), 57-8.
Keywords: Political_quotes Humanity_quotes Experience_quotes Interest_quotes Science_quotes Technology_quotes Contemplation_quotes Action_quotes Education_quotes Civilization_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Practical_quotes Affair_quotes Men_quotes Need_quotes Combine_quotes Relation_quotes Knowledge_quotes Impression_quotes Produce_quotes People_quotes Quality_quotes Require_quotes Haunt_quotes Idea_quotes Break_quotes Discovery_quotes Irreparable_quotes

C_West_Churchman

Not a Bad Idea

"The systems approach is not a bad idea."
  • Source: C. West Churchman in the book The Systems Approach (1968), p. 232.
Keywords: System_quotes Idea_quotes Approach_quotes Innovation_quotes Bad_quotes

Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi

Idea Selection and Production

“External forces are very important in determining which new ideas will be selected from among the many available; but they cannot explain their production.”
  • Source: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the book “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience“, chapter “The Rules of the Games of the Mind”, page 126. Original content published by Harper Perennial Modern Classics in 1990. Kindle edition published by Harper Collins in 2008. ISBN: 978-0061876721.
Keywords: Scientific_Method_quotes External_quotes Force_quotes Important_quotes Determine_quotes New_quotes Idea_quotes Select_quotes Available_quotes Explain_quotes Production_quotes Creativity_quotes

Tom_DeMarco and Tim_Lister

Seldom Manage That Way

"Most managers are willing to concede the idea that they’ve got more people worries than technical worries. But they seldom manage that way. They manage as though technology were their principal concern. They spend their time puzzling over the most convoluted and most interesting puzzles that their people will have to solve, almost as though they themselves were going to do the work rather than manage it. They are forever on the lookout for a technical whizbang that promises to automate away part of the work. The most strongly people-oriented aspects of their responsibility are often given the lowest priority."
  • Source: Book:: Entitled: Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams. Edition: 3rd. Written by: Tom DeMarco; Tim Lister. Date published: 1987; 1999; 2013. Publisher: Addison-Wesley. Country: USA; GBR; CAN; DEU; FRA; ESP; ZAF; AUS; JPN; SGP; MEX. Language: en. ISBN: ISBN-13: 978-0-321-93411-6 (alk paper); 0-321-93411-3 (alk paper). Chapter: 1 (Somewhere Today, a Project Is Failing).
Keywords: Manager_quotes People_quotes Worry_quotes Technology_quotes Seldom_quotes Principal_quotes Concern_quotes Time_quotes Puzzle_quotes Convoluted_quotes Solution_quotes Delegation_quotes Trust_quotes Work_quotes Management_quotes Whizbang_quotes Automation_quotes Development_quotes Project_quotes Responsibility_quotes Priority_quotes Concede_quotes Idea_quotes Interesting_quotes Lookout_quotes Promise_quotes Aspect_quotes

John_Dewey

Scientific Inquiry

“That the great majority of those who leave school should have some idea of the kind of evidence required to substantiate given types of belief does not seem unreasonable. Nor is it absurd to expect that they should go forth with a lively interest in the ways in which knowledge is improved and a marked distaste for all conclusions reached in disharmony with the methods of scientific inquiry.”
  • Source: John Dewey, Address to Section L, Education, of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, at Boston (1909), 'Science as Subject-Matter and as Method'. Published in Science (28 Jan 1910), N.S. Vol. 31, No. 787, 126.
Keywords: Science_quotes School_quotes Idea_quotes Evidence_quotes Belief_quotes Interest_quotes Knowledge_quotes Conclusion_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Error_quotes Improvement_quotes Majority_quotes Substantiate_quotes Absurd_quotes Expect_quotes Distaste_quotes Disharmony_quotes Method_quotes Inquiry_quotes

David_Epstein

Giant Undertakings

“Since the 1990s, researcher Bent Flyvbjerg has kept a database that tracks giant undertakings... Only 8.5 percent of projects finished on time and on budget; 0.5 percent did that and delivered the prophesied benefits. Almost every major infrastructure project goes over budget, but at least not by as much as IT projects, which have a greater tendency to go hundreds of percent over budget. The pattern of disaster that Flyvbjerg has documented is relatively simple: With few constraints, exciting projects get too large too fast, going from big idea to giant endeavor extremely quickly.”
  • Source: David Epstein in the book “Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better”. Published 2026 by Riverhead Books. Page 14. ISBN 978-0593715734 (Ebook).
Keywords: Since_quotes Research_quotes Database_quotes Track_quotes Giant_quotes Undertaking_quotes Percent_quotes Project_quotes Finish_quotes Time_quotes Budget_quotes Deliver_quotes Prophecy_quotes Benefit_quotes Major_quotes Infrastructure_quotes Go_quotes Information_Technology_quotes Great_quotes Tendency_quotes Hundred_quotes Over_quotes Pattern_quotes Disaster_quotes Documentation_quotes Relative_quotes Simple_quotes Few_quotes Constraint_quotes Excited_quotes Large_quotes Fast_quotes Big_quotes Idea_quotes Endeavor_quotes Quick_quotes

The Box

“Sometimes new ideas require entirely new forms. It’s not that we need to ‘think outside the box,’ so to speak, as much as we need to craft a new box, for new ideas. Constraints can help with that.”
  • Source: David Epstein in the book “Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better”. Published 2026 by Riverhead Books. Page 70. ISBN 978-0593715734 (Ebook).
Keywords: Sometime_quotes New_quotes Idea_quotes Require_quotes Entire_quotes Form_quotes Need_quotes Think_quotes Outside_quotes Box_quotes Craft_quotes Constraint_quotes

Forbes_Tech_Council

Customer Needs

“Sometimes software projects begin with a great idea... only for developers to discover that the problem they solved wasn’t actually the problem their customer needed to be solved.”
Keywords: Sometime_quotes Software_quotes Project_quotes Great_quotes Idea_quotes Developer_quotes Discover_quotes Problem_quotes Solve_quotes Customer_quotes Need_quotes Requirements_quotes

Galileo

Seek the Truth

“For it is too bad that there are so few who seek the truth and so few who do not follow a mistaken method in philosophy. This is not, however, the place to lament the misery of our century, but to rejoice with you over such beautiful ideas for proving the truth. So I add only, and I promise, that I shall read your book at leisure; for I am certain that I shall find the noblest things in it. And this I shall do the more gladly, because I accepted the view of Copernicus many years ago, and from this standpoint I have discovered from their origins many natural phenomena, which doubtless cannot be explained on the basis of the more commonly accepted hypothesis.”
  • Source: Galileo Galilei, Letter (4 Aug 1597) to Kepler, expressing thanks and interest in the book Kepler sent him. As quoted in translation in Jackson J. Spielvogel, Western Civilization: Alternate Volume: Since 1300 (2010), Vol. 2, 494.
Keywords: Bad_quotes Seek_quotes Search_quotes Few_quotes Truth_quotes Mistake_quotes Methodology_quotes Philosophy_quotes Misery_quotes Century_quotes Joy_quotes Beauty_quotes Idea_quotes Proof_quotes Promise_quotes Reading_quotes Book_quotes Nobility_quotes Glad_quotes Acceptance_quotes Nature_quotes Phenomena_quotes Explanation_quotes Hypothesis_quotes Heliocentric_quotes Galilean_quotes Copernican_quotes

Gordon_Glegg

Engineers and Designers Are Human

“Throughout this book we have talked about 'designers' and 'engineers' and sought, by analysing their work, to find general and helpful maxims. But there is a danger in doing this, for we may forget that a 'designer' or 'engineer' is first and foremost a human being. A human being who designs or engineers has, in addition, a wide range of complicated and interacting emotions. It is easy to become emotionally involved in a new invention and so resent criticism of it even when that criticism, if heeded, would turn a failure into a success. Confidence may be blinded by conceit or undermined by an inferiority complex. History has shown that many new inventions were not inventions at all; they were re-inventions. The idea was not new but the determination to press through with it was. Character is the foundation of ability. Develop as large a safety margin as you can against such things as laziness, impatience, prejudice and arrogance and all the other human failings that inhibit constructive achievement in all spheres, especially that of creative engineering design.”
  • Source: Glegg, G. L. (1969). The Design of Design. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 978-0-511-79996-9. Chapter 6, page 92.
Keywords: Design_quotes Engineering_quotes Work_quotes Maxim_quotes Danger_quotes Forget_quotes Humanity_quotes Complexity_quotes Emotion_quotes Invention_quotes Criticism_quotes Resentment_quotes Failure_quotes Success_quotes Confidence_quotes Conceit_quotes Inferior_quotes History_quotes Idea_quotes Determination_quotes Character_quotes Ability_quotes Safe_quotes Lazy_quotes Impatience_quotes Prejudice_quotes Arrogance_quotes Achievement_quotes Sphere_quotes Creativity_quotes Analyze_quotes Human_quotes Interacting_quotes Heed_quotes Blind_quotes Reinvention_quotes Inhibit_quotes Constructive_quotes

Thomas_Gold

Knowledge Rules

“In no subject is there a rule, compliance with which will lead to new knowledge or better understanding. Skilful observations, ingenious ideas, cunning tricks, daring suggestions, laborious calculations, all these may be required to advance a subject. Occasionally the conventional approach in a subject has to be studiously followed; on other occasions it has to be ruthlessly disregarded. Which of these methods, or in what order they should be employed is generally unpredictable. Analogies drawn from the history of science are frequently claimed to be a guide; but, as with forecasting the next game of roulette, the existence of the best analogy to the present is no guide whatever to the future. The most valuable lesson to be learnt from the history of scientific progress is how misleading and strangling such analogies have been, and how success has come to those who ignored them.”
  • Source: Thomas Gold, 'Cosmology', in Arthur Beer (ed.), Vistas in Astronomy (1956), Vol. 2, 1722.
Keywords: Rule_quotes Subject_quotes Compliance_quotes Knowledge_quotes Understanding_quotes Skill_quotes Observation_quotes Idea_quotes Trick_quotes Courage_quotes Labor_quotes Status_Quo_quotes Creativity_quotes Prediction_quotes Analogy_quotes History_quotes Science_quotes Game_quotes Success_quotes Ingenious_quotes Cunning_quotes Daring_quotes Suggest_quotes Calculation_quotes Conventional_quotes Approach_quotes Order_quotes Follow_quotes Ruthless_quotes Disregard_quotes Method_quotes Unpredictable_quotes Guide_quotes Forecast_quotes Roulette_quotes Existence_quotes Present_quotes Future_quotes Value_quotes Learn_quotes Progress_quotes Mislead_quotes Strangle_quotes Ignore_quotes

John_Gribbin

Scientific Method

“The Big Idea that had been developed in the seventeenth century ... is now known as the scientific method. It says that the way to proceed when investigating how the world works is to first carry out experiments and/or make observations of the natural world. Then, develop hypotheses to explain these observations, and (crucially) use the hypothesis to make predictions about the future outcome of future experiments and/or observations. After comparing the results of those new observations with the predictions of the hypotheses, discard those hypotheses which make false predictions, and retain (at least, for the time being) any hypothesis that makes accurate predictions, elevating it to the status of a theory. Note that a theory can never be proved right. The best that can be said is that it has passed all the tests applied so far.”
  • Source: John R. Gribbin. In The Fellowship: the Story of a Revolution (2005), 275.
Keywords: Scientific_Method_quotes Idea_quotes Development_quotes Investigation_quotes World_quotes Experiment_quotes Observation_quotes Prediction_quotes Hypothesis_quotes Explanation_quotes Future_quotes Result_quotes Falsification_quotes Accuracy_quotes Theory_quotes Proof_quotes Testing_quotes Certainty_quotes Uncertainty_quotes Nature_quotes False_quotes Retain_quotes Discard_quotes Elevate_quotes Pass_quotes Test_quotes

Robert_Heinlein

Delusions

“How can I possibly put a new idea into your heads, if I do not first remove your delusions?”.

  • Source: Written by Robert A. Heinlein in the short story “Life-Line” originally published in the 1939-08 edition of “Astounding Science Fiction” magazine, page 83. Character: Dr. Pinero. Retrieved 2024-05-05 from https://www.luminist.org/archives/SF/AST.htm.
Keywords: Possible_quotes New_quotes Idea_quotes Head_quotes Remove_quotes Delusion_quotes Learn_quotes

Donald_Hoffman

AI Computation

“If we look at an LLM [Large Language Model] or a future AI [Artificial Intelligence], it's going to be some kind of computational system. And computational systems have their limits. We have Gödel who said that at a minimum. I'm betting that you and I are avatars of an infinite intelligence that's the true source of all creativity and that Einstein or any scientist taps into when they come up with their truly original ideas. The first step would be to say, if it's just a computational bias, then it doesn't transcend. It doesn't get to this true originality. But then there's a deeper level... These are just avatars in a particular headset. So why can't we create a new avatar in our headset that looks like a computer that is actually an avatar of the deep intelligence? If we are only going to stick with the computational thing... But somehow the [human] avatar is a portal into the infinite consciousness... And we know one way of creating new portals into this infinite consciousness, and that is having kids. So that is one technology that allows us to do that. Once we understand spacetime as a headset, and we understand the headset and at least some layers of its relationship to the infinite reality, that's the source of true insight and true originality and creativity, could we figure out new ways to open up genuine new portals, and might that look like AI… The jury is out.”
  • Source: Donald Hoffman, in the YouTube video entitled “Donald Hoffman's New Approach To Consciousness” channel “Dr Brian Keating”. Online at <https://youtu.be/mU_WBela71Y?si=fNfLLsOsUDRDC1XD> posted 2024-08, retrieved 2024-08. In video at 1:14:40.
Keywords: Look_quotes LLM_quotes Large_quotes Language_quotes Model_quotes Future_quotes AI_quotes Artificial_quotes Intelligence_quotes Computation_quotes System_quotes Limit_quotes Gödel(topic)_quotes Minimum_quotes Bet_quotes Avatar_quotes Infinite_quotes True_quotes Source_quotes Creativity_quotes Einstein(topic)_quotes Scientist_quotes Tap_quotes Original_quotes Idea_quotes Bias_quotes Transcend_quotes Deep_quotes Level_quotes Particular_quotes Headset_quotes Create_quotes New_quotes Computer_quotes Actual_quotes Human_quotes Portal_quotes Consciousness_quotes Kid_quotes Technology_quotes Allow_quotes Understand_quotes Spacetime_quotes Relationship_quotes Reality_quotes Figure_quotes Way_quotes Open_quotes Genuine_quotes Jury_quotes

Douglas_Hofstadter

Strange Consciousness

“My belief is that the explanations of emergent phenomena in our brains — for instance, ideas, hopes, images, analogies, and finally consciousness and free will — are based on a kind of Strange Loop, an interaction between levels in which the top loop reaches back down towards the bottom level and influences it, while at the same time being itself determined by the bottom level. In other words, a self-reinforcing resonance between different levels.”
  • Source: Hofstadter, Douglas R. (1979). Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid. Written by Douglas R. Hofstadter. Basic Books, New York, NY. ISBN 13: 978-046502656-2. ISBN 10: 046502656-7. Chapter 20. Page 709.
Keywords: Belief_quotes Explanation_quotes Emergent_quotes Phenomena_quotes Brain_quotes Idea_quotes Hope_quotes Image_quotes Analogy_quotes Consciousness_quotes Free_Will_quotes Strange_Loop_quotes Interaction_quotes Level_quotes Loop_quotes Top_quotes Bottom_quotes Influence_quotes Determine_quotes Reinforce_quotes Resonance_quotes Self_quotes Different_quotes

Sabine_Hossenfelder

Infinity

“It’s generally a bad idea to compare infinity to infinity, because the outcome depends on just how you define the comparison, so any conclusion you draw from such an exercise becomes physically ambiguous.”
  • Source: Hossenfelder, Sabine. Existential Physics: A Scientist's Guide to Life's Biggest Questions (p. 62). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Keywords: Bad_quotes Idea_quotes Compare_quotes Infinity_quotes Outcome_quotes Depend_quotes Define_quotes Conclusion_quotes Draw_quotes Exercise_quotes Physical_quotes Ambiguous_quotes

Victor_Hugo

An Idea Whose Time Has Come

“An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.”
  • Source: Histoire d'un crime (History of a Crime: The Testimony of an Eye-Witness). 1877. English version 1878, London, publisher Sampson Low.
Keywords: Idea_quotes Army_quotes Resistance_quotes Time_quotes Invasion_quotes

Hans_Hüttel

Chatbots and Programmers

“Even if chatbots should become a useful tool for programmers, their existence cannot mean the end of programming. It may well be the case that this combination of a built-in repository of code examples and the ability to easily retrieve code examples based on it can be used for generating ideas and for forms of ‘pair programming’.”
  • Source: Written by Hans Hüttel in the journal article entitled “On Program Synthesis and Large Language Models”, in Communications of the ACM, volume 68, number 1, 2025-01. DOI:10.1145/3680410.
Keywords: Chatbot_quotes Useful_quotes Tool_quotes Programmer_quotes Existence_quotes Mean_quotes End_quotes Programming_quotes Case_quotes Combination_quotes Built-in_quotes Repository_quotes Code_quotes Example_quotes Ability_quotes Easy_quotes Retrieve_quotes Base_quotes Use_quotes Generate_quotes Idea_quotes Form_quotes Pair_quotes

William_James

True Ideas

“True ideas are those that we can assimilate, validate, corroborate, and verify. False ideas are those that we can not. That is the practical difference it makes to us to have true ideas; that, therefore, is the meaning of truth, for it is all that truth is known-as. This thesis is what I have to defend. The truth of an idea is not a stagnant property inherent in it. Truth happens to an idea. It becomes true, is made true by events. Its verity is in fact an event, a process: the process namely of its verifying itself, its verification. Its validity is the process of its validation.”
  • Source: William James. From the book “Pragmatism: New Name for Some Old Ways of Thinking”. Lecture VI. Published in 1907 by <Longman's, Green and Co.>, New York, NY.
Keywords: True_quotes Assimilate_quotes Corroborate_quotes Verify_quotes False_quotes Idea_quotes Practical_quotes Difference_quotes Meaning_quotes Truth_quotes Known_quotes Thesis_quotes Defend_quotes Stagnant_quotes Property_quotes Inherent_quotes Happen_quotes Become_quotes Make_quotes Event_quotes Verity_quotes Fact_quotes Process_quotes Validate_quotes

Daniel_Kahneman

Unpredictable Future

“The idea that the future is unpredictable is undermined every day by the ease with which the past is explained.”
Keywords: Idea_quotes Future_quotes Prediction_quotes Undermine_quotes Day_quotes Easy_quotes Past_quotes Explanation_quotes

Pierre-Simon_Laplace

System of Nature

“The present state of the system of nature is evidently a consequence of what it was in the preceding moment, and if we conceive of an intelligence that at a given instant comprehends all the relations of the entities of this universe, it could state the respective position, motions, and general affects of all these entities at any time in the past or future. Physical astronomy, the branch of knowledge that does the greatest honor to the human mind, gives us an idea, albeit imperfect, of what such an intelligence would be. The simplicity of the law by which the celestial bodies move, and the relations of their masses and distances, permit analysis to follow their motions up to a certain point; and in order to determine the state of the system of these great bodies in past or future centuries, it suffices for the mathematician that their position and their velocity be given by observation for any moment in time. Man owes that advantage to the power of the instrument he employs, and to the small number of relations that it embraces in its calculations. But ignorance of the different causes involved in the production of events, as well as their complexity, taken together with the imperfection of analysis, prevents our reaching the same certainty about the vast majority of phenomena. Thus there are things that are uncertain for us, things more or less probable, and we seek to compensate for the impossibility of knowing them by determining their different degrees of likelihood. So it was that we owe to the weakness of the human mind one of the most delicate and ingenious of mathematical theories, the science of chance or probability.”
  • Source: Pierre-Simon Laplace, 'Recherches, 1º, sur l'Intégration des Équations Différentielles aux Différences Finies, et sur leur Usage dans la Théorie des Hasards' (1773, published 1776). In Oeuvres complètes de Laplace, 14 Vols. (1843-1912), Vol. 8, 144-5, trans. Charles Coulston Gillispie, Pierre-Simon Laplace 1749-1827: A Life in Exact Science (1997), 26.
Keywords: State_quotes Present_quotes System_quotes Nature_quotes Consequence_quotes Moment_quotes Precede_quotes Conceive_quotes Intelligence_quotes Instant_quotes Comprehension_quotes Relationship_quotes Universe_quotes Position_quotes Motion_quotes Causality_quotes Time_quotes Past_quotes Future_quotes Astronomy_quotes Knowledge_quotes Humanity_quotes Mind_quotes Idea_quotes Imperfect_quotes Law_quotes Celestial_quotes Body_quotes Mass_quotes Distance_quotes Analysis_quotes Determine_quotes Century_quotes Mathematics_quotes Velocity_quotes Observation_quotes Advantage_quotes Power_quotes Instrument_quotes Calculation_quotes Ignorance_quotes Cause_quotes Production_quotes Event_quotes Complexity_quotes Certainty_quotes Majority_quotes Phenomena_quotes Probability_quotes Impossibility_quotes Likelihood_quotes Weakness_quotes Theory_quotes Chance_quotes

Fran_Lebowitz

Talk about Ideas and Wine

“Great people talk about ideas, average people talk about things, and small people talk about wine.”
Keywords: Talking_quotes People_quotes Great_quotes Average_quotes Small_quotes Wine_quotes Idea_quotes Thing_quotes

Robert_K_Merton

Publishing Ideas

“Only when he has published his ideas and findings has the scientist made his contribution, and only when he has thus made it part of the public domain of scholarship can he truly lay claim to it as his own. For his claim resides only in the recognition accorded by peers in the social system of science through reference to his work.”
  • Source: Robert King Merton, In The Sociology of Science: An Episodic Memoir (1977), 47. As quoted and cited in David A. Kronick, The Literature of the Life Sciences: Reading, Writing, Research (1985), 89. This has been summarized as a paradox “the more freely the scientist gives his intellectual property away, the more securely it becomes his property” by Mengxiong Liu, in 'The Complexity of Citation Practice: A Review of Citation Studies', The Journal of Documentation (1993), 49, No. 4, 372.
Keywords: Publishing_quotes Idea_quotes Science_quotes Contribution_quotes Public_quotes Public_Domain_quotes Scholarship_quotes Claim_quotes Recognition_quotes Peer_quotes Peer_Review_quotes Society_quotes Reference_quotes Work_quotes Finding_quotes

Alan_Perlis

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

Computational Mind Probabilistic

“The computational theory thus embraces an alternative kind of computer with many elements that are active to a degree corresponding to the probability that some statement is true or false, and in which the activity levels change smoothly to register new and roughly accurate probabilities. (As we shall see, that may be the way the brain works.) The key idea is that the answer to the question 'What makes a system smart?' is not the kind of stuff it is made of or the kind of energy flowing through it, but what the parts of the machine stand for and how the patterns of changes inside it are designed to mirror truth-preserving relationships (including probabilistic and fuzzy truths).”
  • 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 2 Section: The search for Intelligent Life in the Universe.
Keywords: Computation_quotes Theory_quotes Embrace_quotes Alternative_quotes Kind_quotes Computer_quotes Element_quotes Activity_quotes Degree_quotes Correspondence_quotes Probability_quotes Statement_quotes True_quotes False_quotes Level_quotes Change_quotes Smooth_quotes Register_quotes Rough_quotes Accuracy_quotes Sight_quotes Way_quotes Brain_quotes Work_quotes Key_quotes Idea_quotes Answer_quotes Question_quotes System_quotes Smart_quotes Stuff_quotes Energy_quotes Flow_quotes Part_quotes Machine_quotes Stand_quotes Pattern_quotes Inside_quotes Design_quotes Mirror_quotes Fuzzy_quotes Truth_quotes Preservation_quotes Mind_quotes

Karl_Popper

Scientific Game

“Those among us who are unwilling to expose their ideas to the hazard of refutation do not take part in the scientific game.”
  • Source: Popper, K. R. (2005). The Logic of Scientific Discovery | 1935 (1935/Epub). New York, NY: Routledge. Page 280.
Keywords: Unwilling_quotes Expose_quotes Idea_quotes Hazard_quotes Refutation_quotes Falsification_quotes Part_quotes Science_quotes Game_quotes

Irresponsible Dreams

“The history of science, like the history of all human ideas, is a history of irresponsible dreams, of obstinacy, and of error. But science is one of the very few human activities — perhaps the only one — in which errors are systematically criticized and fairly often, in time, corrected. This is why we can say that, in science, we often learn from our mistakes, and why we can speak clearly and sensibly about making progress there. In most other fields of human endeavour there is change, but rarely progress ... And in most fields we do not even know how to evaluate change.”
  • Source: Karl Raimund Popper, From Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (1963), 216. Reproduced in Karl Popper, Truth, Rationality and the Growth of Scientific Knowledge (1979), 9.
Keywords: History_quotes Science_quotes Humanity_quotes Idea_quotes Irresponsible_quotes Dreaming_quotes Obstinate_quotes Error_quotes Activity_quotes System_quotes Criticism_quotes Often_quotes Time_quotes Correction_quotes Learning_quotes Mistake_quotes Speak_quotes Clear_quotes Sensibility_quotes Progress_quotes Field_quotes Endeavour_quotes Change_quotes Evaluation_quotes

Eleanor_Roosevelt

Great Minds

“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.”
  • Source: Attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1987-10-28 issue of 'The Hutchinson News', Quotable, Hutchinson, Kansas. (NewsBank Access World News).
Keywords: Great_quotes Mind_quotes Discussion_quotes Idea_quotes Average_quotes Event_quotes Small_quotes People_quotes

Todd_Rose

Facts

“Even the biggest of ideas requires the correct interpretation. We like to believe that facts speak for themselves, but they most assuredly do not.”
  • Source: From the book “The End of Average: How We Succeed in a World That Values Sameness”, written by Todd Rose, published 2016 by HarperCollins, Kindle Edition, page 4. ISBN: 978-0062358387 (e-book).
Keywords: Big_quotes Idea_quotes Require_quotes Correct_quotes Interpretation_quotes Like_quotes Believe_quotes Fact_quotes Speak_quotes Themselves_quotes Assure_quotes

Bertrand_Russell

Exact Science Approximate

“Although this may seem a paradox, all exact science is dominated by the idea of approximation. When a man tells you that he knows the exact truth about anything, you are safe in inferring that he is an inexact man. Every careful measurement in science is always given with the probable error ... every observer admits that he is likely wrong and knows about how much wrong he is likely to be.”
  • Source: Bertrand Russell, In The Scientific Outlook (1931, 2009), 42
Keywords: Paradox_quotes Seem_quotes Exact_quotes Science_quotes Domination_quotes Idea_quotes Approximation_quotes Humanity_quotes Truth_quotes Safe_quotes Inference_quotes Inexact_quotes Careful_quotes Measurement_quotes Probability_quotes Error_quotes Observation_quotes Wrong_quotes Knowledge_quotes Man_quotes

Exact Theory Beyond Human Powers

“A wholly exact theory is utterly beyond human powers. Although this may seem a paradox, all exact science is dominated by the idea of approximation. When a man tells you that he knows the exact truth about anything, you are safe in inferring that he is an inexact man.”
Keywords: Exact_quotes Theory_quotes Beyond_quotes Humanity_quotes Power_quotes Seem_quotes Paradox_quotes Science_quotes Domination_quotes Idea_quotes Approximation_quotes Safe_quotes Inference_quotes Inexact_quotes Truth_quotes Man_quotes

Carl_Sagan

Wrong Hypothesis OK

“There are many hypotheses in science which are wrong. That's perfectly all right; they're the aperture to finding out what's right. Science is a self-correcting process. To be accepted, new ideas must survive the most rigorous standards of evidence and scrutiny.”
  • Source: Carl Sagan, Quoted in Donald R. Prothero and Carl Dennis Buell, Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why it Matters (2007), 3.
Keywords: Hypothesis_quotes Science_quotes Wrong_quotes Acceptance_quotes Aperture_quotes Find_quotes Right_quotes Self-Correcting_quotes Process_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Idea_quotes Survival_quotes Rigorous_quotes Standards_quotes Evidence_quotes Scrutiny_quotes Correct_quotes Method_quotes

Faith and Evidence

“What is faith? It is belief in the absence of evidence. Now, I don't propose to tell anybody what to believe, but for me believing when there is no compelling evidence is a mistake. The idea is to withhold belief until there is compelling evidence. And if the universe does not comply with our predispositions, okay, then we have the wrenching obligation to accommodate to the way the universe is. So who is more humble? The scientist who looks at the universe with an open mind and accepts whatever the universe has to teach us? Or somebody who says everything in this book must be considered the literal truth and never mind the fallibility of all the human beings involved in the writing of this book?”
  • Source: Carl Sagen speaking in an video entitled 'CARL SAGEN - A Way of Thinking' posted on YouTube at https://youtu.be/J1cNaFG1VII , at 00:03:10 in video. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
Keywords: Faith_quotes Belief_quotes Absence_quotes Evidence_quotes Proposal_quotes Tell_quotes Compel_quotes Mistake_quotes Idea_quotes Withhold_quotes Universe_quotes Compliance_quotes Predisposition_quotes Bias_quotes Wrench_quotes Obligation_quotes Accommodate_quotes Way_quotes Humility_quotes Scientist_quotes Look_quotes Open_quotes Mind_quotes Acceptance_quotes Teaching_quotes Book_quotes Consideration_quotes Literal_quotes Truth_quotes Fallibility_quotes Writing_quotes

Erwin_Schrödinger

Objective Nature

“While the direct sensual perception of the phenomenon tells us nothing as to its objective physical nature (or what we usually call so) and has to be discarded from the outset as a source of information, yet the theoretical picture we obtain eventually rests entirely on a complicated array of various informations, all obtained by direct sensual perception. It resides upon them, it is pieced together from them, yet it cannot really be said to contain them. In using the picture we usually forget about them, except in the quite general way that we know our idea of a light-wave is not a haphazard invention of a crank but is based on experiment.”
  • Source: Erwin Schrödinger in the book “Mind and Matter”, chapter 6. Contained within the anthology “What is Life? The Physical Aspect of the Living Cell with Mind and Matter and Autobiographical Sketches”. Published in 1992 and reprinted in 2013 by Cambridge University Press, New York, NY. ISBN: 9781107604667. Online at <http://strangebeautiful.com/other-texts/schrodinger-what-is-life-mind-matter-auto-sketches.pdf> retrieved 2024. Note: “Mind and Matter” originally published separately in 1944.
Keywords: Direct_quotes Sensual_quotes Perception_quotes Tell_quotes Nothing_quotes Objective_quotes Physical_quotes Nature_quotes Call_quotes Discard_quotes Outset_quotes Source_quotes Information_quotes Theoretical_quotes Picture_quotes Obtain_quotes Eventual_quotes Rest_quotes Entire_quotes Complicated_quotes Array_quotes Reside_quotes Piece_quotes Together_quotes Say_quotes Contain_quotes Forget_quotes Except_quotes General_quotes Way_quotes Knowledge_quotes Idea_quotes Light_quotes Wave_quotes Haphazard_quotes Invention_quotes Crank_quotes Base_quotes Experiment_quotes

Baruch_Spinoza

True and False

“He, who knows how to distinguish between true and false, must have an adequate idea of true and false.”
  • Source: A book. Entitled Ethics. Also entitled Ethica. Written by Baruch Spinoza. Originally published 1677. Translated from Latin by R. H. M. Elwes. Part II, Prop. XLII proof. Online at https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ethics_(Spinoza).
Keywords: Epistemology_quotes Logic_quotes Knowledge_quotes Distinguish_quotes True_quotes False_quotes Adequate_quotes Idea_quotes

Alan_Turing

Extrasensory Perception

“I assume that the reader is familiar with the idea of extrasensory perception, and the meaning of the four items of it, viz., telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition and psychokinesis. These disturbing phenomena seem to deny all our usual scientific ideas. How we should like to discredit them! Unfortunately the statistical evidence, at least for telepathy, is overwhelming.”
  • Source: From the paper entitled “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” by Alan Turing. Published in 1950 in “Mind”, volume 49, number 236.
Keywords: Assume_quotes Reader_quotes Familiar_quotes Idea_quotes Extrasensory_quotes Perception_quotes Meaning_quotes Telepathy_quotes Clairvoyance_quotes Precognition_quotes Psychokinesis_quotes Disturb_quotes Phenomena_quotes Seem_quotes Deny_quotes Usual_quotes Scientific_quotes Like_quotes Discredit_quotes Unfortunate_quotes Statistical_quotes Evidence_quotes Overwhelm_quotes

Alfred_Wegener

Continental Drift

“The first concept of continental drift first came to me as far back as 1910, when considering the map of the world, under the direct impression produced by the congruence of the coast lines on either side of the Atlantic. At first I did not pay attention to the ideas because I regarded it as improbable. In the fall of 1911, I came quite accidentally upon a synoptic report in which I learned for the first time of palaeontological evidence for a former land bridge between Brazil and Africa. As a result I undertook a cursory examination of relevant research in the fields of geology and palaeontology, and this provided immediately such weighty corroboration that a conviction of the fundamental soundness of the idea took root in my mind.”
  • Source: Alfred L. Wegener, In The Origins of Continents and Oceans (4th ed. 1929), trans. John Biram (1966), 1.
Keywords: Conception_quotes Continental_quotes Drift_quotes Map_quotes World_quotes Impress_quotes Produce_quotes Congruity_quotes Coast_quotes Line_quotes Side_quotes Atlantic_quotes Attention_quotes Idea_quotes Regard_quotes Improbable_quotes Fall_quotes Accident_quotes Synoptic_quotes Report_quotes Learning_quotes First_quotes Palaeontology_quotes Evidence_quotes Former_quotes Land_quotes Bridge_quotes Brazil_quotes Africa_quotes Result_quotes Examination_quotes Relevance_quotes Research_quotes Field_quotes Geology_quotes Provide_quotes Immediate_quotes Weight_quotes Corroborate_quotes Conviction_quotes Fundamental_quotes Sound_quotes Root_quotes Mind_quotes

Gerald_Weinberg

Programming Not an Individual Task

“The ideas expressed in the preceding paragraph (of programmer individuality) are possibly the most formidable barrier to improved programming that we shall encounter. First of all, if this is indeed the image generally held of the programming profession, then people will be attracted to, or repelled from, entering the profession according to their preference for working alone or working with others.”
  • Source: Chapter 4. Weinberg, G. M. (2011). The Psychology of Computer Programming (Silver anniversary edition) | 1971. Weinberg & Weinberg.
Keywords: Programming_quotes Individual_quotes Barrier_quotes Professional_quotes People_quotes Preference_quotes Alone_quotes Group_quotes Team_quotes Work_quotes Attract_quotes Repel_quotes Idea_quotes Express_quotes Preceding_quotes Paragraph_quotes Possibly_quotes Formidable_quotes Improve_quotes Encounter_quotes Image_quotes Generally_quotes Held_quotes Cooperation_quotes

Same Idea Doubtful

“It's doubtful that any ‘idea’ is the same in any two of its adherents' minds, but here, as with books and lakes, we can usefully pretend they're all the same.”
  • Source: Weinberg, Gerald (2011-06-03). Passive Regulation: General Systems Design Principles (General Systems Thinking) (Kindle Locations 481-483). Weinberg & Weinberg. Kindle Edition.
Keywords: Doubt_quotes Idea_quotes Mind_quotes Book_quotes Lake_quotes Pretending_quotes Same_quotes Adherent_quotes Useful_quotes

John_Archibald_Wheeler

It From Bit

“It from bit symbolizes the idea that every item of the physical world has at bottom — at a very deep bottom, in most instances — an immaterial source and explanation; that which we call reality arises in the last analysis from the posing of yes-no questions and the registering of equipment-evoked responses; in short, that all things physical are information-theoretic in origin and that this is a participatory universe.”
  • Source: John Archibald Wheeler from a paper originally presented at the 1989 Santa Fe Institute workshop. Published in the book "Complexity, Entropy & the Physics of Information: Volume I", edited by Wojciech H. Zurek, section "Physics of information", as a paper entitled "Information, Physics, Quantum: The Search for Links". Published in 1993 by the SFI Press Archive Series. ISBN: 978-1-947864-27-6.
Keywords: It_quotes Bit_quotes Symbolize_quotes Idea_quotes Every_quotes Item_quotes Physical_quotes World_quotes Bottom_quotes Deep_quotes Immaterial_quotes Source_quotes Explanation_quotes Call_quotes Reality_quotes Arise_quotes Last_quotes Analysis_quotes Pose_quotes Yes_quotes No_quotes Question_quotes Register_quotes Equipment_quotes Evoke_quotes Response_quotes Thing_quotes Information_quotes Theoretic_quotes Origin_quotes Participatory_quotes Universe_quotes
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