Important quotes
From Motley Bytes Wiki
Contents
- 1 Isaac_Asimov
- 2 F_Terry_Baker
- 3 Claude_Bernard
- 4 George_E_P_Box
- 5 Lawrence_Bragg
- 6 Fred_Brooks
- 7 Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi
- 8 Arthur_Conan_Doyle
- 9 Albert_Einstein
- 10 Henry_Ford
- 11 Dedre_Gentner
- 12 Robert_Heinlein
- 13 Grace_Hopper
- 14 Steve_Jobs
- 15 John_Maynard_Keynes
- 16 David_Kipping
- 17 Pierre-Simon_Laplace
- 18 Pim_van_Lommel
- 19 Frank_H_T_Rhodes
- 20 Michael_Alan_Singer
- 21 Alfred_Tarski
Isaac_Asimov
Research
“‘Research’ means ‘to search again,’ Why not? Sometimes, a new interpretation emerges that is of vast importance.”
- 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 63, page 239. ISBN 1-555-84111-2.
- See Also:
- Keywords: Research_quotes Meaning_quotes Search_quotes Sometime_quotes New_quotes Interpretation_quotes Emerge_quotes Vast_quotes Important_quotes
F_Terry_Baker
Code Library
“The most important of these is a development support library which encourages the visibility and manageability of the product, as well as reduces clerical effort on the part of the programmers. The library is typically maintained and operated by a programming librarian who serves to control the programming assets and to provide the necessary services for both programmers and management. As a result of its use, the entire project is maintained in a centralized, up-to-date, visible form which makes its status immediately apparent to code-competent software managers and makes it possible for programmers to answer their questions directly without relying on others.”
- Source: Baker, F. T. (1975). Software Management Through Improved Programming Technology. ACM ’75: Proceedings of the 1975 Annual Conference, 286–287. https://doi.org/10.1145/800181.810346
- Keywords: Programming_quotes Productivity_quotes Library_quotes Source_Code_quotes Important_quotes Development_quotes Support_quotes Encourage_quotes Visible_quotes Management_quotes Product_quotes Reduce_quotes Clerical_quotes Effort_quotes Part_quotes Programmer_quotes Typical_quotes Maintain_quotes Operate_quotes Librarian_quotes Serve_quotes Control_quotes Asset_quotes Provide_quotes Service_quotes Necessary_quotes Result_quotes Use_quotes Entire_quotes Project_quotes Centralize_quotes Up_to_date_quotes Form_quotes Make_quotes Status_quotes Immediate_quotes Apparent_quotes Code_quotes Competent_quotes Software_quotes Manager_quotes Possible_quotes Answer_quotes Question_quotes Direct_quotes Rely_quotes
Claude_Bernard
Minutiae of Method
“Minutiae of method are of the highest importance.”
- 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 14. Available online at https://archive.org/details/b21270557 retrieved 2024.
- Keywords: Minutiae_quotes Method_quotes High_quotes Important_quotes
George_E_P_Box
Statistics
“The reason that, having started as a chemist, I became a statistician was that Statistics seemed to me of much greater importance. It was about the catalysis of scientific method itself.”
- Source: George E.P. Box, In article Total Quality: Its Origins and its Future (1995), published at the Center for Quality and Productivity Improvement.
- Keywords: Statistics_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Reason_quotes Chemist_quotes Statistician_quotes Important_quotes Catalyst_quotes
Lawrence_Bragg
Important Thing in Science
“The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them.”
- Source: Suspiciously attributed to Lawrence Bragg in several sources including the book ‘No-Nonsense Classical Mechanics: A Student-Friendly Introduction’ by Jakob Schwichtenberg published independently in 2019, ISBN:978-1096195382, page before title page.
- See also DOI:10.13140/RG.2.2.29598.69440/2 for more source details.
- See also: Lawrence_Bragg_quotes/Fun_in_Science
- Keywords: Science_quotes Fact_quotes Discovery_quotes Thinking_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Model_quotes Abstraction_quotes Important_quotes Obtain_quotes
Fred_Brooks
Design Is Important
“Mediocre design provably wastes the world’s resources, corrupts the environment, affects international competitiveness. Design is important; teaching design is important.”
- Source: Brooks Jr., F. P. (2010). The Design of Design. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Addison-Wesley. ISBN: 978-0-201-36298-5. Preface.
Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi
Culture Shields
“One of the major functions of every culture has been to shield its members from chaos, to reassure them of their importance and ultimate success…. An unrealistic trust in the shields, in the cultural myths, can lead to equally extreme disillusion when they fail... The shields that have worked in the past — the order that religion, patriotism, ethnic traditions, and habits instilled by social classes used to provide — are no longer effective for increasing numbers of people who feel exposed to the harsh winds of chaos.”
- Source: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the book “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience“, chapter “The Shields of Culture”, page 11. Original content published by Harper Perennial Modern Classics in 1990. Kindle edition published by Harper Collins in 2008. ISBN: 978-0061876721.
- Keywords: Major_quotes Function_quotes Culture_quotes Shield_quotes Member_quotes Chaos_quotes Reassure_quotes Important_quotes Ultimate_quotes Success_quotes Unrealistic_quotes Trust_quotes Myth_quotes Lead_quotes Disillusion_quotes Fail_quotes Work_quotes Past_quotes Order_quotes Religion_quotes Patriotism_quotes Ethnic_quotes Habit_quotes Instill_quotes Social_quotes Class_quotes Provide_quotes Effective_quotes Increase_quotes Number_quotes People_quotes Feel_quotes Expose_quotes Harsh_quotes Wind_quotes
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.
- See Also:
Arthur_Conan_Doyle
Little Things Important
“It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.”
- Source: Words of the fictional character Sherlock Holmes. Written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the short story “A Case of Identity”. Published in 1891-09 in Strand Magazine. Online at https://sherlock-holm.es/stories/pdf/a4/1-sided/iden.pdf, retrieved 2024.
- See Also:
- Keywords: Long_quotes Axiom_quotes Little_quotes Infinite_quotes Important_quotes
Albert_Einstein
Intuition and Inspiration
“I believe in intuition and inspiration. ... At times I feel certain I am right while not knowing the reason. When the eclipse of 1919 confirmed my intuition, I was not in the least surprised. In fact I would have been astonished had it turned out otherwise. Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution. It is, strictly speaking, a real factor in scientific research.”
- Source: Cosmic Religion : With Other Opinions and Aphorisms (1931) by Albert Einstein, p. 97; also in Transformation : Arts, Communication, Environment (1950) by Harry Holtzman, p. 138.
- Keywords: Intuition_quotes Inspiration_quotes Certainty_quotes Imagination_quotes Creativity_quotes Knowledge_quotes Science_quotes Research_quotes Reason_quotes Eclipse_quotes Confirm_quotes Surprise_quotes Astonish_quotes Important_quotes Limit_quotes Embrace_quotes World_quotes Stimulate_quotes Progress_quotes Birth_quotes Evolution_quotes Factor_quotes
Henry_Ford
Wages
“There is nothing to running a business by custom – to saying: 'I pay the going rate of wages.' The same man would not so easily say: 'I have nothing better or cheaper to sell than any one has.' No manufacturer in his right mind would contend that buying only the cheapest materials is the way to make certain of manufacturing the best article. Then why do we hear so much talk about the 'liquidation of labour' and the benefits that will flow to the country from cutting wages – which means only the cutting of buying power and the curtailing of the home market? What good is industry if it be so unskillfully managed as not to return a living to everyone concerned? No question is more important than that of wages – most of the people of the country live on wages. The scale of their living – the rate of their wages – determines the prosperity of the country.”
- Source: Henry Ford. A book. Entitled My Life and Work. Written by Henry Ford in collaboration with Samuel Crowther. Published 1922, Garden City, NY: Doubleday. Chapter VIII.
- See Also:
- Keywords: Business_quotes Pay_quotes Rate_quotes Wage_quotes Manufacture_quotes Sell_quotes Mind_quotes Buy_quotes Cheap_quotes Material_quotes Liquidation_quotes Labor_quotes Benefit_quotes Cut_quotes Power_quotes Market_quotes Industry_quotes People_quotes Prosperity_quotes Country_quotes Inequality_quotes Nothing_quotes Run_quotes Custom_quotes Say_quotes Man_quotes Easy_quotes Better_quotes Contend_quotes Best_quotes Article_quotes Hear_quotes Talk_quotes Curtail_quotes Home_quotes Management_quotes Living_quotes Question_quotes Important_quotes Scale_quotes Determine_quotes
Dedre_Gentner
Abstract Creativity
“In the life we lead today, we need to be reminded of things that are only abstractly or relationally similar. And the more creative you want to be, the more important that is.”
- Source: Dedre Gentner in an interview with author David Epstein reported in his book “Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World”. Published 2019 by Riverhead Books. Chapter 5, page 104. ISBN 978-0735214484.
- Keywords: Life_quotes Lead_quotes Today_quotes Need_quotes Remind_quotes Thing_quotes Abstract_quotes Relational_quotes Similarity_quotes Creative_quotes Want_quotes Important_quotes
Robert_Heinlein
Scientific Method
“There are but two ways of forming an opinion in science. One is the scientific method; the other, the scholastic. One can judge from experiment, or one can blindly accept authority. To the scientific mind, experimental proof is all important and theory is merely a convenience in description, to be junked when it no longer fits. To the academic mind, authority is everything and facts are junked when they do not fit theory laid down by authority.”.
- 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: Scientific_Method_quotes Science_quotes Method_quotes Way_quotes Form_quotes Opinion_quotes Scholastic_quotes Judge_quotes Experiment_quotes Blind_quotes Accept_quotes Authority_quotes Mind_quotes Proof_quotes Important_quotes Theory_quotes Convenience_quotes Description_quotes Junk_quotes Fit_quotes Academic_quotes Everything_quotes Fact_quotes Laid_quotes Down_quotes
Grace_Hopper
Never Take First No
“Never, never, never take the first no. There are a certain number of people in business, industry, and government who always say no the first time you suggest something new, because they're lazy. And if they say yes, they're going to have to do something about it. But there's another group, they are even more dangerous in a way, who always say no the first time you say something new or different because they want to see if you believe in it enough to come back and ask again. So never take the first no. Always go back and ask again. As a matter of fact, I take about four no's and then I figure out how to get around the guy, but that technique comes with age. I ran into one of these guys... I noticed he always said no to things the first time. So the next time I went in to suggest something I said ‘let's pretend this is the second time I'm presenting this’. I said, ‘you always say no the first time’. And he looked at me with the funniest expression. I had him over the barrel from then on because I'd just go and say, ‘this is the fourth time I'm requesting this, let's just say yes now’. So never, never, never take the first no on a new concept. It's terribly important that we listen to our youngsters.”
- Source: Grace Hopper in a lecture delivered 1982-08-19 at the NSA (National Security Agency). Video available at YouTube as “NSA Releases Internal 1982 Lecture by Computing Pioneer Rear Admiral Grace Hopper”, channel The Black Vault Originals, online at <https://youtu.be/_bP14OzIJWI?si=wcUTl04b4p4scY6k>, posted 2024-08, retrieved 2024-08. Quote in video at 26:28.
- Keywords: Never_quotes First_quotes Yes_quotes No_quotes Certain_quotes People_quotes Business_quotes Industry_quotes Government_quotes Always_quotes Say_quotes Time_quotes Suggest_quotes New_quotes Lazy_quotes Do_quotes Another_quotes Group_quotes Dangerous_quotes Different_quotes See_quotes Believe_quotes Enough_quotes Come_quotes Back_quotes Ask_quotes Figure_quotes Around_quotes Guy_quotes Technique_quotes Age_quotes Pretend_quotes Second_quotes Present_quotes Look_quotes Funny_quotes Expression_quotes Over_quotes Barrel_quotes Fourth_quotes Request_quotes Now_quotes Concept_quotes Terrible_quotes Important_quotes Listen_quotes Youngster_quotes
Steve_Jobs
Deciding
“Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do.”
- Source: Steve Jobs in “Motivating Thoughts of Steve Jobs”, published by Prabhat Prakashan in 2020. ISBN: 9789351869191.
- See Also:
- Keywords: Decide_quotes Do_quotes Important_quotes Requirements_quotes
John_Maynard_Keynes
Slow Progress
“From the earliest times of which we have record — back, say, to two thousand years before Christ [BCE 2000] down to the beginning of the eighteenth century [CE 1700] — there was no very great change in the standard of life of the average man living in the civilised centres of the earth... This slow rate of progress, or lack of progress, was due to two reasons — to the remarkable absence of important technical improvements and to the failure of capital to accumulate.”
- Source: From the Essay “Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren” written by John Maynard Keynes in 1930. Included in the book “Essays in Persuasion” edited by John Maynard Keynes and published by W. W. Norton & Company in 1963.
- Keywords: Early_quotes Time_quotes Record_quotes Ancient_quotes Century_quotes Pre-industrial_quotes Industrial_quotes Change_quotes Standard_quotes Life_quotes Living_quotes Civilization_quotes Center_quotes Earth_quotes Slow_quotes Rate_quotes Progress_quotes Lack_quotes Due_quotes Causality_quotes Reason_quotes Remarkable_quotes Absence_quotes Important_quotes Technology_quotes Improvement_quotes Failure_quotes Capital_quotes Accumulate_quotes
David_Kipping
Nature Computation
“It is important to distinguish between testing whether the universe is built upon the principles of computation but is not a simulation versus testing where the universe is indeed a simulation on someone's computer. Those are different to each other. It is quite possible that the laws of computation are somehow embedded within nature and yet everything we see around us is not a simulation.”
- Source: David Kipping from the YouTube “Why You're Probably Not a Simulation”, posted 2020-09-04 in the channel ‘Cool Worlds’. Video offset 11:15. Online at https://youtu.be/HA5YuwvJkpQ (2025).
- Keywords: Important_quotes Distinguish_quotes Between_quotes Testing_quotes Universe_quotes Build_quotes Principle_quotes Computation_quotes Simulation_quotes Computer_quotes Different_quotes Each_quotes Other_quotes Possible_quotes Law_quotes Embed_quotes Nature_quotes Everything_quotes See_quotes Around_quotes
Pierre-Simon_Laplace
Problems of Probability
“The most important questions of life... are indeed for the most part only problems of probability. Strictly speaking it may even be said that nearly all our knowledge is problematical; and in the small number of things which we are able to know with certainty, even in the mathematical sciences themselves, the principal means for ascertaining truth — induction and analogy — are based on probabilities.”
- Source: Pierre-Simon Laplace in the essay “Philosophical Essay on Probabilities”, Introduction. Originally published in 1886 in French as “Theorie Analytique Des Probabilites”. English translation by Frederick Wilson Truscott and Frederick Lincoln Emory published in 1902 by John Wiley and Sons, New York, NY. Online at https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Philosophical_Essay_on_Probabilities/WxoPAAAAIAAJ?hl=en retrieved 2024-06-20.
- Keywords: Important_quotes Question_quotes Life_quotes Part_quotes Problem_quotes Probability_quotes Near_quotes Knowledge_quotes Problematical_quotes Small_quotes Number_quotes Thing_quotes Ability_quotes Certainty_quotes Mathematics_quotes Science_quotes Principal_quotes Mean_quotes Ascertain_quotes Truth_quotes Induction_quotes Analogy_quotes Base_quotes
Pim_van_Lommel
Materialist Science
“In materialist science, only that is true that you can objectify, what you can measure, what you can duplicate, or what you can falsify. Then it is true. Now what you feel and what you think, your consciousness, you cannot objectify, you cannot duplicate, you cannot measure, and you cannot falsify. Consciousness, the essence of who you are, what you feel, what you think, is beyond our current materialist science. So, they call it an illusion. But it is the essence of who we are. We have to expand science into post-materialist science. We have to change the paradigm to include subjective experiences... Science should include subjective experiences into the scientific method... The materialist aspect of science is still important, but it's not enough... This is a totally different approach when you realize that everything has its subjective aspects.”
- Source: Words from Pim van Lommel in a video interview. From the YouTube video “Consciousness beyond death, with Dr. Pim van Lommel” on the Essentia Foundation channel. Posted 2023-07-23. Online at https://youtu.be/NVsBFOB7H44. Offset 46:19.
- Keywords: Science_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Materialism_quotes Truth_quotes Objective_quotes Measurement_quotes Duplicate_quotes Falsification_quotes Feel_quotes Think_quotes Consciousness_quotes Essence_quotes Beyond_quotes Illusion_quotes Call_quotes Expand_quotes Post-materialist_quotes Aspect_quotes Important_quotes Change_quotes Paradigm_quotes Subjective_quotes Experience_quotes Enough_quotes Different_quotes Approach_quotes Realize_quotes Everything_quotes
Frank_H_T_Rhodes
Scientific Method Essence
“The essence of scientific method is the method of inductive and empirical enquiry, the process of observation, experiment and hypothesis... The second important aspect of scientific method is its abstraction.”
- Source: Frank H. T. Rhodes in the essay “Christianity in a Mechanistic Universe”, included in the book “Christianity in a Mechanistic Universe and Other Essays” edited by Donald M. MacKay, published by Inter-Varsity Press, Chicago, Illinois, in 1965.
Michael_Alan_Singer
Mind Voice
“There is nothing more important to true growth than realizing that you are not the voice of the mind – you are the one who hears it.”
- Source: From the book “The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself”, by Michael Alan Singer, published 2007 by New Harbinger Publications. ISBN 978-1572245372. Chapter 1.
- Keywords: Nothing_quotes Important_quotes True_quotes Grow_quotes Realize_quotes Voice_quotes Mind_quotes Hear_quotes Observer_quotes
Alfred_Tarski
Search For Truth
“The search for truth is rightly considered the essence of scientific activities, it appears as an important problem to find at least partial criteria of truth and to develop procedures that may enable us to ascertain or negate the truth (or at least the likelihood of truth).”
- Source: Alfred Tarski in his paper entitled ‘Truth and Proof’, published in Scientific America, 1969, volume 220 issue 6, pages 63-77. Online at https://www.jstor.org/stable/24926385.
- Keywords: Search_quotes Truth_quotes Right_quotes Consider_quotes Essence_quotes Science_quotes Activity_quotes Appear_quotes Important_quotes Problem_quotes Find_quotes Least_quotes Partial_quotes Criteria_quotes Develop_quotes Procedure_quotes Enable_quotes Ascertain_quotes Negate_quotes Likelihood_quotes