Lead quotes
From Motley Bytes Wiki
Contents
- 1 Claude_Bernard
- 2 Octavia_E_Butler
- 3 Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi
- 4 Paul_Dirac
- 5 Peter_Drucker
- 6 David_Epstein
- 7 Dedre_Gentner
- 8 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- 9 Robert_Lawrence_Kuhn
- 10 John von Neumann
- 11 David_E_Nye
- 12 Gene_Spafford
- 13 John_Steinbeck
- 14 Allen_Wheelis
- 15 Stephen_Wolfram
- 16 Steven_S_Zumdahl
Claude_Bernard
Tainted Fact Reason
“Reasoning will always be correct when applied to accurate notions and precise facts; but it can lead only to error when the notions or facts on which it rests were originally tainted with error or inaccuracy.”
- 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. Page 2. Available online at https://archive.org/details/b21270557 retrieved 2024.
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.
Octavia_E_Butler
Power Struggles
“All struggles are essentially power struggles. Who will rule, who will lead, who will define, refine, confine, design. Who will dominate. All struggles are essentially power struggles, and most are no more intellectual than two rams knocking their heads together.”
- Source: Writen by Octavia E. Butler in her book entitled “Parable of the Sower”. Chapter 8. First published by Grand Central Publishing, New York, NY in 1993. Reprinted in 2019. ISBN-13: 978-1538732182.
Choose Your Leaders
“Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears. To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunists who control the fool. To be led by a thief is to offer up your most precious treasures to be stolen. To be led by a liar is to ask to be lied to. To be led by a tyrant is to sell yourself and those you love into slavery.”
- Source: Written by Octavia E. Butler in her book entitled “Parable of the Talents”. Chapter 11. First published by Seven Stories Press, New York, NY, in 1998. ISBN-13: 978-1-888363-81-4.
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
Paul_Dirac
Mathematics Will Lead
“If you are receptive and humble mathematics will lead you by the hand. Again and again, when I have been at a loss how to proceed, I have just had to wait until I have felt the mathematics led me by the hand. It has led me along an unexpected path, a path where new vistas open up, a path leading to new territory, where one can set up a base of operations, from which one can survey the surroundings and plan future progress.”
- Source: Paul Dirac As quoted in “The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom” (2009) by Graham Farmelo, p. 435.
- Keywords: Receptivity_quotes Humility_quotes Mathematics_quotes Guidance_quotes Leadership_quotes Hand_quotes Loss_quotes Proceed_quotes Wait_quotes Lead_quotes Unexpected_quotes Path_quotes Vista_quotes New_quotes Territory_quotes Base_quotes Operation_quotes Survey_quotes Plan_quotes Future_quotes Progress_quotes
Peter_Drucker
Learn to Lead People
"We will have to learn to lead people rather than to contain them."
- Source: Peter F. Drucker, “Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices”, New York: Harper & Row, 1973. p. 30.
- Keywords: Learning_quotes Lead_quotes People_quotes Contain_quotes Management_quotes
David_Epstein
Researcher Freedom
“The problem of researcher freedom leading to false conclusions is now known to be pervasive in science. The age of big data and big-database software makes it easier than ever to mix and match statistics in pursuit of positive results that are likely just artifacts of chance.”
- Source: David Epstein in the book “Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better”. Published 2026 by Riverhead Books. Page 38. ISBN 978-0593715734 (Ebook).
- Keywords: Problem_quotes Research_quotes Freedom_quotes Lead_quotes False_quotes Conclusion_quotes Know_quotes Now_quotes Pervasive_quotes Science_quotes Age_quotes Big_quotes Data_quotes Database_quotes Software_quotes Make_quotes Easy_quotes Mix_quotes Match_quotes Statistics_quotes Pursuit_quotes Positive_quotes Result_quotes Likely_quotes Artifact_quotes Chance_quotes
Complete Freedom
“In other words, when anything is possible, it becomes nearly impossible to do anything new. Complete freedom, paradoxically, leads to conformity.”
- Source: David Epstein in the book “Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better”. Published 2026 by Riverhead Books. Page 58. ISBN 978-0593715734 (Ebook).
Haiku Way
“Haiku finds depth in the simple, and creativity in constraints that block the path of least resistance... Haiku is small, so you can try easily and iterate quickly. It is in present tense, so it forces you to be in the moment... Haiku is the simplest example of a helpful constraint... It is not a form, it is a way — an attitude. It is a way of being, of eagerly accepting unnecessary obstacles because of where they can lead.”
- Source: David Epstein in the book “Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better”. Published 2026 by Riverhead Books. Page 233. ISBN 978-0593715734 (Ebook).
- Keywords: Haiku_quotes Find_quotes Depth_quotes Simple_quotes Creativity_quotes Constraint_quotes Block_quotes Path_quotes Least_quotes Resistance_quotes Small_quotes Try_quotes Easy_quotes Iteration_quotes Quick_quotes Present_quotes Tense_quotes Force_quotes Moment_quotes Example_quotes Help_quotes Form_quotes Way_quotes Attitude_quotes Being_quotes Eager_quotes Accept_quotes Unnecessary_quotes Obstacle_quotes Because_quotes Where_quotes Lead_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.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Great Truth
“Nothing is great but truth, and the smallest truth is great... Even a harmful truth is useful, for it can be harmful only for the moment and will lead to other truths, which must always become useful, very much so. Conversely, even a useful error is harmful, for it can be useful only for the moment, enticing us into other errors, which become more and more harmful.”
- Source: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in a letter to Charlotte von Stein in 1787. Reprinted in in “Goethe’s World View: Presented in His Reflections and Maxims” published 1963. Edited by Frederick Ungar, Translated by Heinz Norden, pp. 72-73, Frederick Ungar Publishing Company, New York.
- Keywords: Nothing_quotes Great_quotes Truth_quotes Small_quotes Harm_quotes Useful_quotes Moment_quotes Lead_quotes Error_quotes Entice_quotes
Robert_Lawrence_Kuhn
Scientific Method Limits
“Every theory that is dualist, panpsychist or idealist agrees that we can study the biological facets of consciousness by studying the brain – but they all claim this will never lead to a complete understanding. In other words, there are limits to how far the scientific method can take us.”
- Source: Kuhn, Robert Lawrence. In the paper ‘What 350 different theories of consciousness reveal about reality’, published in the journal New Scientist, 2025-10-22, online at https://www.newscientist.com/article/2498968-what-350-different-theories-of-consciousness-reveal-about-reality/.
John von Neumann
Gradual Development of Theory
“What is important is the gradual development of a theory, based on a careful analysis of the ... facts. ... Its first applications are necessarily to elementary problems where the result has never been in doubt and no theory is actually required. At this early stage the application serves to corroborate the theory. The next stage develops when the theory is applied to somewhat more complicated situations in which it may already lead to a certain extent beyond the obvious and familiar. Here theory and application corroborate each other mutually. Beyond lies the field of real success: genuine prediction by theory. It is well known that all mathematized sciences have gone through these successive stages of evolution.”
- Source: John von Neumann, 'Formulation of the Economic Problem' in Theory of Games and Economic Behavior (1964), 8. Reprinted in John Von Neumann, F. Bródy (ed.) and Tibor Vámos (ed.), The Neumann Compendium (2000), 416.
- Keywords: Importance_quotes Gradual_quotes Development_quotes Theory_quotes Careful_quotes Analysis_quotes Fact_quotes Application_quotes Elementary_quotes Problem_quotes Result_quotes Doubt_quotes Requirements_quotes Early_quotes Stage_quotes Service_quotes Corroborate_quotes Complexity_quotes Situation_quotes Lead_quotes Obvious_quotes Familiar_quotes Mutual_quotes Success_quotes Genuine_quotes Prediction_quotes Mathematics_quotes Science_quotes Evolution_quotes Beyond_quotes
David_E_Nye
Technology Unexpected Outcomes
“Technologies lead to unexpected outcomes.”
- Source: A book. Written by David E. Nye. Entitled 'Narratives and Spaces'. Published in 1997 by Univerity of Exeter Press, Exeter, UK. Hardback ISBN 0-85989-555-6. Paperback ISBN 0-85989-556-4. Chapter 11, page 179.
- Keywords: Technology_quotes Lead_quotes Unexpected_quotes Outcome_quotes
Gene_Spafford
Only Truly Secure System
“The only truly secure system is one that is powered off, cast in a block of concrete and sealed in a lead-lined room with armed guards - and even then I have my doubts.”
- Source: Spafford, Eugene "Gene". Quoted in Computer Recreations: Of Worms, Viruses and Core War by A. K. Dewdney in Scientific American, March 1989, pp 110.
John_Steinbeck
All Information Not In
“It is not enough to say that we cannot know or judge because all the information is not in. The process of gathering knowledge does not lead to knowing. A child's world spreads only a little beyond his understanding while that of a great scientist thrusts outward immeasurably. An answer is invariably the parent of a great family of new questions. So we draw worlds and fit them like tracings against the world about us, and crumple them when we find they do not fit and draw new ones.”
- Source: John Steinbeck, In John Steinbeck and Edward Flanders Ricketts, Sea of Cortez: a Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research (1941), 165-66.
- Keywords: Say_quotes Knowledge_quotes Judgment_quotes Information_quotes Process_quotes Gather_quotes Lead_quotes Children_quotes World_quotes Spread_quotes Understanding_quotes Scientist_quotes Thrust_quotes Outward_quotes Immeasurable_quotes Answer_quotes Invariant_quotes Parent_quotes Family_quotes Question_quotes Draw_quotes Fit_quotes Trace_quotes Crumple_quotes Find_quotes
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
Allen_Wheelis
Science Accuracy Certainty
“Science would have us believe that such accuracy, leading to certainty, is the only criterion of knowledge, would make the trial of Galileo the paradigm of the two points of view which aspire to truth, would suggest, that is, that the cardinals represent only superstition and repression, while Galileo represents freedom. But there is another criterion which is systematically neglected in this elevation of science. Man does not now — and will not ever — live by the bread of scientific method alone. He must deal with life and death, with love and cruelty and despair, and so must make conjectures of great importance which may or may not be true and which do not lend themselves to experimentation: It is better to give than to receive; Love thy neighbor as thyself; Better to risk slavery through non-violence than to defend freedom with murder. We must deal with such propositions, must decide whether they are true, whether to believe them, whether to act on them — and scientific method is no help for by their nature these matters lie forever beyond the realm of science.”
- Source: Allen Wheelis, In The End of the Modern Age (1973), 89.
- Keywords: Science_quotes Belief_quotes Accuracy_quotes Lead_quotes Certainty_quotes Criteria_quotes Knowledge_quotes Trial_quotes Galileo(topic)_quotes Paradigm_quotes Point_quotes View_quotes Aspiration_quotes Truth_quotes Suggestion_quotes Cardinal_quotes Representation_quotes Superstition_quotes Repression_quotes Freedom_quotes Systematic_quotes Neglect_quotes Elevation_quotes Humanity_quotes Bread_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Deal_quotes Living_quotes Death_quotes Love_quotes Cruel_quotes Despair_quotes Conjecture_quotes Importance_quotes True_quotes Lend_quotes Experiment_quotes Better_quotes Give_quotes Recieve_quotes Neighbor_quotes Risk_quotes Slavery_quotes Violence_quotes Non-Violence_quotes Defend_quotes Murder_quotes Proposition_quotes Decision_quotes Act_quotes Help_quotes Nature_quotes Forever_quotes Beyond_quotes Realm_quotes Man_quotes Method_quotes
Stephen_Wolfram
Computational Irreducibility
“I’ve increasingly come to view the whole fundamental story of science as being about the interplay between computational irreducibility and computational reducibility. The computational nature of things inevitably leads to computational irreducibility. But there are slices of computational reducibility that inevitably exist on top of this irreducibility that are what make it possible for us — as computationally bounded entities — to identify meaningful scientific laws and to do science.”
- Source: Stephen Wolfram. “The Wolfram Physics Project: A One-Year Update” published 2021-04-14 at https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2021/04/the-wolfram-physics-project-a-one-year-update/.
- Keywords: View_quotes Whole_quotes Fundamental_quotes Story_quotes Science_quotes Interplay_quotes Between_quotes Computation_quotes Irredicible_quotes Reducible_quotes Nature_quotes Inevitable_quotes Lead_quotes Slice_quotes Exist_quotes Top_quotes Make_quotes Possible_quotes Bound_quotes Entity_quotes Identify_quotes Meaning_quotes Law_quotes Do_quotes
Steven_S_Zumdahl
Progress of Science
“The progress of science is often affected more by the frailties of humans and their institutions than by the limitations of scientific measuring devices. The scientific method is only as effective as the humans using it. It does not automatically lead to progress.”
- Source: Steven S. Zumdahl, Chemistry (1989), 6.
