People quotes

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Jeremy_Bentham

Greatest Happiness

“It is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong.”
  • Source: Bentham, Jeremy. 'A Comment on the Commentaries and a Fragment on Government', edited by J. H. Burns and H. L. A. Hart. London: The Athlone Press. 1977. p. 393. Originally published in 1823 in London.
Keywords: Greatest_quotes Happiness_quotes Number_quotes Measure_quotes Right_quotes Wrong_quotes People_quotes Utilitarianism_quotes

Bible_Verses

Tower Of Babel (Genesis 11:4-6)

(4) “And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”
(5) “And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.”
(6) “And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.”
Keywords: Lord_quotes Build_quotes City_quotes Tower_quotes Top_quotes Reach_quotes Heaven_quotes Make_quotes Name_quotes Pride_quotes Hubris_quotes Scatter_quotes Face_quotes Whole_quotes Earth_quotes Children_quotes Men_quotes People_quotes One_quotes Unity_quotes Cooperation_quotes Language_quotes Do_quotes Nothing_quotes Restraint_quotes Imagination_quotes Babel_quotes

Dietrich_Bonhoeffer

Stupidity Social

“We discover this to our surprise in particular situations. The impression one gains is not so much that stupidity is a congenital defect but that, under certain circumstances, people are made stupid or that they allow this to happen to them. We note further that people who have isolated themselves from others or who live in solitude manifest this defect less frequently than individuals or groups of people inclined or condemned to sociability. And so it would seem that stupidity is perhaps less a psychological than a sociological problem.”
  • 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 Discover_quotes Surprise_quotes Particular_quotes Situation_quotes Impression_quotes Gain_quotes Congenital_quotes Defect_quotes Certain_quotes Circumstance_quotes People_quotes Made_quotes Allow_quotes Happen_quotes Isolate_quotes Other_quotes Live_quotes Solitude_quotes Manifest_quotes Less_quotes Frequent_quotes Individual_quotes Group_quotes Incline_quotes Condemn_quotes Social_quotes Seem_quotes Psychology_quotes Sociology_quotes Problem_quotes

Stupidity Liberation

“Yet at this very point it becomes quite clear that only an act of liberation, not instruction, can overcome stupidity. Here we must come to terms with the fact that in most cases a genuine internal liberation becomes possible only when external liberation has preceded it. Until then we must abandon all attempts to convince the stupid person. This state of affairs explains why in such circumstances our attempts to know what ‘the  people’ really think are in vain and why, under these circumstances, this question is so irrelevant for the person who is thinking and acting responsibly.”
  • 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 Point_quotes Become_quotes Clear_quotes Act_quotes Liberation_quotes Instruction_quotes Overcome_quotes Term_quotes Fact_quotes Most_quotes Case_quotes Genuine_quotes Internal_quotes Possible_quotes External_quotes Precede_quotes Abandon_quotes Attempt_quotes Convince_quotes Person_quotes State_quotes Affair_quotes Explain_quotes Circumstance_quotes People_quotes Think_quotes Vain_quotes Question_quotes Irrelevant_quotes Responsible_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

Robert_N_Britcher

Software People Rare

“But the number of people who know how software is written is small. Most of us are not talking, or we are saying 'Trust us'.”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 17.
Keywords: Programming_quotes People_quotes Software_quotes Trust_quotes Rare_quotes Number_quotes Knowledge_quotes Writing_quotes Small_quotes Talk_quotes Say_quotes

Mixed Abstractions

“... computer systems and programming attract brainy people because symbol systems mix abstractions. One thing appears to be something else depending on how you look at it.”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 129.
Keywords: Computer_quotes System_quotes Brain_quotes Intelligence_quotes People_quotes Abstraction_quotes Perception_quotes Appearance_quotes Programming_quotes Programmer_quotes Symbol_quotes Depend_quotes Look_quotes

Fred_Brooks

Software Complexity

“Einstein repeatedly argued that there must be simplified explanations of nature, because God is not capricious or arbitrary. No such faith comforts the software engineer. Much of the complexity he must master is arbitrary complexity, forced without rhyme or reason by the many human institutions and systems to which his interfaces must conform. These differ from interface to interface, and from time to time, not because of necessity but only because they were designed by different people, rather than by God.”
  • Source: Brooks Jr., F. P. (1995). The Mythical Man-Month - Essays on Software Engineering (Anniversary Edition) | 1975/1995 (Anniv.). Boston. MA: Addison-Wesley. ISBN: 0201835959. Chapter 16, page 184.
Keywords: Complexity_quotes Software_quotes Nature_quotes Deity_quotes Faith_quotes System_quotes Interface_quotes Human_Limitations_quotes Design_quotes Software_Design_quotes Einstein(topic)_quotes Repeat_quotes Argue_quotes Simplify_quotes Explanation_quotes God_quotes Capricious_quotes Arbitrary_quotes Force_quotes Rhyme_quotes Reason_quotes Human_quotes Limit_quotes Institution_quotes Conform_quotes Different_quotes Time_quotes Necessary_quotes People_quotes

People Central

“The central question of how to improve the software art centers, as it always has, on people.”
  • Source: Brooks Jr., F. P. (1995). The Mythical Man-Month - Essays on Software Engineering (Anniversary Edition) | 1975/1995 (Anniv.). Boston. MA: Addison-Wesley. ISBN: 0201835959. Chapter 16, page 202.
Keywords: Human_Resources_quotes People_quotes Software_quotes Software_Management_quotes Quality_quotes Software_Quality_quotes Project_Management_quotes Art_quotes Central_quotes Question_quotes Improve_quotes Human_quotes

Productivity Magnitude

“Study after study shows that the very best designers produce structures that are faster, smaller, simpler, cleaner, and produced with less effort. The differences between the great and the average approach an order of magnitude.”
  • Source: Brooks Jr., F. P. (1995). The Mythical Man-Month - Essays on Software Engineering (Anniversary Edition) | 1975/1995 (Anniv.). Boston. MA: Addison-Wesley. ISBN: 0201835959. Chapter 16, page 202.
Keywords: Design_quotes People_quotes Software_quotes Productivity_quotes Quality_quotes Software_Quality_quotes Project_Management_quotes Excellence_quotes Study_quotes Designer_quotes Produce_quotes Structure_quotes Fast_quotes Simple_quotes Small_quotes Clean_quotes Effort_quotes Project_quotes Management_quotes Difference_quotes Great_quotes Average_quotes Order_quotes Magnitude_quotes

Great Designers

“A little retrospection shows that although many fine, useful software systems have been designed by committees and built by multipart projects, those software systems that have excited passionate fans are those that are the products of one or a few designing minds, great designers.”
  • Source: Brooks Jr., F. P. (1995). The Mythical Man-Month - Essays on Software Engineering (Anniversary Edition) | 1975/1995 (Anniv.). Boston. MA: Addison-Wesley. ISBN: 0201835959. Chapter 16, page 202.
Keywords: Design_quotes People_quotes Software_quotes Quality_quotes Software_Quality_quotes Project_Management_quotes Excellence_quotes Software_Management_quotes Retrospection_quotes Fine_quotes Useful_quotes System_quotes Committee_quotes Build_quotes Multipart_quotes Excited_quotes Passionate_quotes Fan_quotes Product_quotes One_quotes Few_quotes Mind_quotes Great_quotes Designer_quotes Management_quotes

Warren_Buffett

Money Versus Business

“So as a practical matter we need management with the businesses that we buy and three times out of four thereabouts the manager is the owner and is receiving tens of millions maybe hundreds of millions of dollars so they don't have to work and we have to decide in that time when we meet them whether they love the business or love money... I'm not making a moral judgment about whether it's better to love the business or love money but it's very important for me to know which which of the two is the primary motivator with them... so all all we have to do is avoid anything that on our part that diminishes that love of the business or makes other conditions so intolerable that they overcome that love of the business. We have a number of people working for us that have no financial need to work at all and they probably outwork 95 percent or more of the people in the world and they do it because they just they love smacking the ball.”
Keywords: Practical_quotes Matter_quotes Management_quotes Business_quotes Owner_quotes Receive_quotes Money_quotes Work_quotes Decide_quotes Love_quotes Morality_quotes Judgment_quotes Knowledge_quotes Diminish_quotes Motivator_quotes Primary_quotes Avoid_quotes Condition_quotes Intolerable_quotes Overcome_quotes People_quotes Financial_quotes Need_quotes Outwork_quotes Do_quotes Smack_quotes Ball_quotes

Alistair_Cockburn

People and Methodologies

"One thing not in my methodological equation, or, in fact, in anyone else’s, as far as I can see, is the effect of 'people' on methodologies."
Keywords: People_quotes Methodology_quotes Equation_quotes Effect_quotes

People First-Order Effect

"I finally concluded that there is something there, in front of us all the time, which we are not seeing: people. People’s characteristics are a first-order success driver, not a second-order one. In fact, I have reversed the order, and now consider process factors to be second-order issues."

Keywords: People_quotes Methodology_quotes Process_quotes Success_quotes Failure_quotes Conclude_quotes Front_quotes Time_quotes See_quotes Characteristic_quotes First-order_quotes Second-order_quotes Reverse_quotes Order_quotes Factor_quotes Software_quotes Development_quotes

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

Formal Development

"In the formal development of communications software, in 1987, I was given the motivation, 'The problem with software development is that there is too much ambiguity in the problem statement and in the design description. Things will go better if we get people to work with mathematical formalisms.” After some work in this area, I discovered:
Problem 1. The people on the projects were not interested in learning our system.
Problem 2. They were successfully able to ignore us, and were still delivering software, anyway.
I shifted out of formal development, hearing my formal development colleagues saying, 'The problem lies in the training. Things will go better if we start training students in the necessary mathematics earlier, i.e., secondary school.' Based on what I have learned about people, I expect this will be a frustrated desire. It is not that I doubt certain advantages of formal development, but I do doubt our ability to coax 10**6 people to master it. The question should become, 'Under what circumstances, and with what assignment, should a formal specialist be called in?'"

Source: Cockburn, A. A. R. (1999). Characterizing people as non-linear 1st order components in software development. HaT Technical Report 1999.03, Humans and Technology, Inc.. Retrieved 2019-06-29 from https://ameyakarve.wordpress.com/2012/07/22/characterizing-people-as-non-linear-1st-order-components-in-software-development-cockburn-us/.

Keywords: Formality_quotes Methodology_quotes Software_quotes Development_quotes Ambiguity_quotes Design_quotes Specification_quotes Requirements_quotes Training_quotes Education_quotes Specialization_quotes Communication_quotes Motivation_quotes Problem_quotes Statement_quotes Description_quotes People_quotes Work_quotes Mathematics_quotes Learning_quotes Success_quotes Ignore_quotes Deliver_quotes Colleague_quotes Student_quotes School_quotes Frustration_quotes Desire_quotes Advantage_quotes Circumstance_quotes Assignment_quotes Master_quotes

Striking Project Findings

"What I find striking about these projects is that they show:
Almost any methodology can be made to work on some project.
Any methodology can manage to fail on some project.
Heavy processes can be successful.
Light processes are more often successful, and more importantly, the people on those projects credit the success to the lightness of the methodology."
Keywords: Formality_quotes Methodology_quotes Process_quotes Development_quotes Project_quotes Heavy_quotes Light_quotes Success_quotes Failure_quotes Strike_quotes Show_quotes Work_quotes People_quotes Finding_quotes

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

Mind Chaos

“Contrary to what we tend to assume, the normal state of the mind is chaos. Without training, and without an object in the external world that demands attention, people are unable to focus their thoughts for more than a few minutes at a time.”
  • Source: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the book “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience“, chapter “The Flow of Thought”, page 119. Original content published by Harper Perennial Modern Classics in 1990. Kindle edition published by Harper Collins in 2008. ISBN: 978-0061876721.
Keywords: Contrary_quotes Assume_quotes Normal_quotes State_quotes Mind_quotes Chaos_quotes Train_quotes Object_quotes External_quotes World_quotes Demand_quotes Attention_quotes People_quotes Unable_quotes Focus_quotes Thought_quotes Few_quotes Minute_quotes Time_quotes

Daydreaming

“One of the simplest ways to use the mind is daydreaming: playing out some sequence of events as mental images. But even this apparently easy way to order thought is beyond the range of many people... Daydreaming not only helps create emotional order by compensating in imagination for unpleasant reality — as when a person can reduce frustration and aggression against someone who has caused injury by visualizing a situation in which the aggressor is punished — but it also allows children and adults to rehearse imaginary situations so that the best strategy for confronting them may be adopted, alternative options considered, unanticipated consequences discovered — all results that help increase the complexity of consciousness. And, of course, when used with skill, daydreaming can be very enjoyable.”
  • Source: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the book “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience“, chapter “The Flow of Thought”, page 120. Original content published by Harper Perennial Modern Classics in 1990. Kindle edition published by Harper Collins in 2008. ISBN: 978-0061876721.
Keywords: Simple_quotes Way_quotes Mind_quotes Daydreaming_quotes Play_quotes Event_quotes Mental_quotes Image_quotes Order_quotes Thought_quotes Beyond_quotes Range_quotes People_quotes Help_quotes Emotion_quotes Compensate_quotes Imagination_quotes Unpleasant_quotes Reality_quotes Reduce_quotes Person_quotes Frustration_quotes Aggression_quotes Cause_quotes Injury_quotes Visualize_quotes Situation_quotes Punish_quotes Allow_quotes Reherse_quotes Best_quotes Strategy_quotes Optimization_quotes Confront_quotes Adopt_quotes Alternative_quotes Unanticipated_quotes Consequence_quotes Discover_quotes Result_quotes Increase_quotes Complexity_quotes Consciousness_quotes Use_quotes Skill_quotes Enjoyable_quotes

Sam_Cutler

Americana

"The Grateful Dead didn't really care about, you know, having a particularly, commercially, successful record. And they certainly didn't care about making lots of money. ... something very interesting happened at the time that I joined them, not that it had anything to do with me I hasten to add, which was the Grateful Dead, I think, my view of it is, is that they were attempting to redefine, as every generation of American artists does, what it means to be an American artist. What in fact it means to be an American. Artists in America constantly struggled with this. They want to define what America is. They want to discover what America is. They want to find some clue to what it means to be American. Americans have got this very, very strange and interesting pre-occupation with the discovery of what constitutes America. What it is. In America, people leave home and go out in search of America. People in England don't set out and leave home and go in search of England. That would be quite preposterous."
  • Source: Sam Cutler, Documentary "Long Strange Trip", Episode 2, Act II.
Keywords: America_quotes Record_quotes Art_quotes Artists_quotes Commercial_quotes Money_quotes Discovery_quotes Search_quotes Absurdity_quotes Grateful_quotes Dead_quotes Care_quotes Success_quotes Time_quotes Redefine_quotes Generation_quotes Struggle_quotes Clue_quotes Constitute_quotes People_quotes Home_quotes England_quotes Preposterous_quotes

Edward_Emil_David

Information Overload

"One has to avoid flooding people with so much information that they ignore it all."
Keywords: Flood_quotes People_quotes Information_quotes Ignorance_quotes Avoid_quotes

DeMarco and Lister

People Not Modular

"Most of us as managers are prone to one particular failing: a tendency to manage people as though they were modular components."
  • 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). Part: I (Managing the Human Resource).
Keywords: Manager_quotes Management_quotes People_quotes Failure_quotes Tendency_quotes Module_quotes Component_quotes Prone_quotes

Project Politics

"The cause of failure most frequently cited by our survey participants was 'politics.' But now observe that people tend to use this word rather sloppily. Included under 'politics' are such unrelated or loosely related things as communication problems, staffing problems, disenchantment with the boss or with the client, lack of motivation, and high turnover. People often use the word politics to describe any aspect of the work that is people-related, but the English language provides a much more precise term for these effects: They constitute the project’s sociology. The truly political problems are a tiny and pathological subset."
  • 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: Failure_quotes Survey_quotes Political_quotes Observation_quotes People_quotes Sloppy_quotes Imprecise_quotes Communication_quotes Staffing_quotes Human_Resources_quotes Management_quotes Boss_quotes Disenchantment_quotes Client_quotes Motivation_quotes Turnover_quotes Sociology_quotes Project_quotes Pathological_quotes Resource_quotes Cause_quotes Frequent_quotes Participant_quotes Aspect_quotes Work_quotes Language_quotes Precise_quotes Term_quotes Effect_quotes

People Related Problems

"Whatever you name these people-related problems, they’re more likely to cause you trouble on your next assignment than all the design, implementation, and methodology issues you’ll have to deal with. In fact, that idea is the underlying thesis of this whole book: The major problems of our work are not so much technological as sociological in nature."
  • 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: People_quotes Trouble_quotes Problem_quotes Assignment_quotes Design_quotes Implementation_quotes Methodology_quotes Thesis_quotes Work_quotes Technology_quotes Sociology_quotes Development_quotes Management_quotes Project_quotes Name_quotes Cause_quotes Nature_quotes

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

W_Edwards_Deming

Blame Process not People

"Blame the process, not the people."
  • Source: Deming Seminar, Alexandria, Virginia, 19-22 January 1992
Keywords: Blame_quotes Process_quotes Human_quotes People_quotes

People Manager

"A manager of people needs to understand that all people are different. This is not ranking people."
  • Source: W. Edwards Deming. The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education (1993).
Keywords: Management_quotes Human_quotes Differences_quotes Understanding_quotes Rank_quotes Average_quotes People_quotes

Daniel_Dennett

History of Philosophy

"The history of philosophy is in large measure the history of very smart people making very tempting mistakes, and if you don’t know the history, you are doomed to making the same darn mistakes all over again."
  • Source: Daniel C. Dennett, from the book 'Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking', 2013, WW Norton, ISBN 978-0-393-24068-9 (e-book), chapter 1.
Keywords: History_quotes Philosophy_quotes Intellectualism_quotes People_quotes Mistake_quotes Repeatability_quotes Smart_quotes Tempt_quotes Doom_quotes

Philosophy and Pornography

“Philosophy is to science as pornography is to sex: it is cheaper, easier and some people prefer it.”
  • Source: Unattributed, but cited by Daniel C. Dennett in the book 'Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking', 2013, WW Norton, ISBN 978-0-393-24068-9 (e-book), Introduction.
Keywords: Philosophy_quotes Pornography_quotes Sex_quotes Cheap_quotes Ease_quotes People_quotes Preference_quotes Science_quotes

Edsger_Wybe_Dijkstra

Advice

"One moral of the above story is, of course, that we must be very careful when we give advice to younger people; sometimes they follow it!"
Keywords: Moral_quotes Advice_quotes People_quotes Youth_quotes Story_quotes Careful_quotes Follow_quotes

Effective Reasoning

“The required techniques of effective reasoning are pretty formal, but as long as programming is done by people that don't master them, the software crisis will remain with us and will be considered an incurable disease. And you know what incurable diseases do: they invite the quacks and charlatans in, who in this case take the form of Software Engineering gurus.”
Keywords: Technique_quotes Effectiveness_quotes Reason_quotes Formal_quotes Programming_quotes Skill_quotes Software_quotes Crisis_quotes Incurability_quotes Disease_quotes Quack_quotes Charlatan_quotes Software_Engineering_quotes Guru_quotes People_quotes Master_quotes Engineering_quotes

Peter_Drucker

Weaknesses and Strengths

"A man should never be appointed into a managerial position if his vision focuses on people's weaknesses rather than on their strengths."
  • Source: Peter Drucker, “The Practice of Management” New York,: Harper, 1st ed. 1954 ; Routledge, 2012, p. 157.
Keywords: Man_quotes Humanity_quotes People_quotes Appoint_quotes Manager_quotes Position_quotes Vision_quotes Human_quotes Weakness_quotes Strength_quotes

Ordering Others About

“It does not follow from the separation of planning and doing in the analysis of work that the planner and the doer should be two different people. It does not follow that the industrial world should be divided into two classes of people: a few who decide what is to be done, design the job, set the pace, rhythm and motions, and order others about; and the many who do what and as they are told.”
  • Source: Peter Drucker, “The Practice of Management” New York,: Harper, 1st ed. 1954 ; Routledge, 2012, p. 284.
Keywords: Follow_quotes Separation_quotes Plan_quotes Do_quotes Analysis_quotes Work_quotes Differences_quotes Human_quotes People_quotes Industry_quotes World_quotes Divide_quotes Class_quotes Few_quotes Decision_quotes Design_quotes Set_quotes Pace_quotes Rhythm_quotes Motion_quotes Order_quotes Told_quotes

What a Manager Does

“A manager sets objectives - A manager organizes - A manager motivates and communicates - A manager, by establishing yardsticks, measures - A manager develops people.”
  • Source: Peter Drucker, “The Practice of Management” New York,: Harper, 1st ed. 1954 ; Routledge, 2012, p. 344.
Keywords: Do_quotes Manager_quotes Set_quotes Organization_quotes Motivation_quotes Communication_quotes Establish_quotes Yardstick_quotes Measurement_quotes Development_quotes People_quotes

Implementing and Doing

“The moment people talk of 'implementing' instead of 'doing,' and of 'finalizing' instead of 'finishing,' the organization is already running a fever."”
  • Source: Peter F. Drucker, “Landmarks of Tomorrow: A Report on the New 'Post-Modern' World”, New York: Harper & Row, 1959. p. 94.
Keywords: Moment_quotes People_quotes Talking_quotes Implementation_quotes Do_quotes Final_quotes Finishing_quotes Organization_quotes Run_quotes Fever_quotes

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

Need to Get Together

“The rule should be to minimize the need for people to get together to accomplish anything.”
  • Source: Peter F. Drucker, Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices, New York: Harper & Row, 1973. p. 548.
Keywords: Rule_quotes Minimum_quotes Need_quotes People_quotes Together_quotes Accomplish_quotes

Layoffs

“...what's absolutely unforgivable is the financial benefit top management people get for laying off people. There is no excuse for it. No justification. This is morally and socially unforgivable, and we will pay a heavy price for it.”
  • Source: A cantankerous interview with Peter Drucker, Wired (August 1996).
Keywords: Absolute_quotes Unforgivable_quotes Finance_quotes Benefit_quotes Top_quotes Management_quotes People_quotes Layoff_quotes Excuse_quotes Justification_quotes Morality_quotes Society_quotes Pay_quotes Heavy_quotes Price_quotes

Freeman_Dyson

Science and Society

“In the modern world, science and society often interact in a perverse way. We live in a technological society, and technology causes political problems. The politicians and the public expect science to provide answers to the problems. Scientific experts are paid and encouraged to provide answers. The public does not have much use for a scientist who says, 'Sorry, but we don’t know.' The public prefers to listen to scientists who give confident answers to questions and make confident predictions of what will happen as a result of human activities. So it happens that the experts who talk publicly about politically contentious questions tend to speak more clearly than they think. They make confident predictions about the future, and end up believing their own predictions. Their predictions become dogmas which they do not question. The public is led to believe that the fashionable scientific dogmas are true, and it may sometimes happen that they are wrong. That is why heretics who question the dogmas are needed.”
  • Source: Freeman Dyson, Frederick S. Pardee Distinguished Lecture (Oct 2005), Boston University. Collected in 'Heretical Thoughts About Science and Society', A Many-Colored Glass: Reflections on the Place of Life in the Universe (2007), 43-44.
Keywords: World_quotes Modern_quotes Science_quotes Society_quotes Interaction_quotes Perversity_quotes Technology_quotes Political_quotes Problem_quotes Politician_quotes People_quotes Answer_quotes Expert_quotes Knowledge_quotes Confidence_quotes Prediction_quotes Humanity_quotes Activity_quotes Talking_quotes Contention_quotes Thinking_quotes Future_quotes Belief_quotes Dogma_quotes Bias_quotes Heretical_quotes

Albert_Einstein

Growing Old

“People like you and I, though mortal of course like everyone else, do not grow old no matter how long we live...[We] never cease to stand like curious children before the great mystery into which we were born.”
  • Source: Albert Einstein [Letter/Writer];
    • 1942-09-29 [Date]; Otto Juliusburger [Recipient]; Einstein Archives [Location]; 38-238 [Item].
Keywords: Age_quotes Mortality_quotes Curiosity_quotes Mystery_quotes People_quotes Grow_quotes Old_quotes Long_quotes Live_quotes Cease_quotes Stand_quotes Children_quotes Born_quotes

English_Proverbs

Fooling People

“You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”
Keywords: Fool_quotes All_quotes People_quotes Time_quotes

David_Epstein

Forest Trees

“Premodern people miss the forest for the trees; modern people miss the trees for the forest.”
  • Source: David Epstein in the book “Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World”. Published 2019 by Riverhead Books. Chapter 2, page 44. ISBN 978-0735214484.
Keywords: Premodern_quotes Modern_quotes People_quotes Miss_quotes Forest_quotes Tree_quotes

Yourself Yesterday

“Compare yourself to yourself yesterday, not to younger people who aren’t you. Everyone progresses at a different rate, so don’t let anyone else make you feel behind. You probably don’t even know where exactly you’re going, so feeling behind doesn’t help.”
  • Source: David Epstein in the book “Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World”. Published 2019 by Riverhead Books. Conclusion, page 290. ISBN 978-0735214484.
Keywords: Compare_quotes Yourself_quotes Yesterday_quotes Young_quotes People_quotes Everyone_quotes Progress_quotes Different_quotes Rate_quotes Anyone_quotes Feel_quotes Behind_quotes Probable_quotes Know_quotes Where_quotes Exact_quotes Go_quotes Help_quotes

Leon_Festinger

Belief

“Suppose an individual believes something with his whole heart; suppose further that he has a commitment to this belief and he has taken irrevocable actions because of it; finally, suppose that he is presented with evidence, unequivocal and undeniable evidence, that his belief is wrong: what will happen? The individual will frequently emerge, not only unshaken, but even more convinced of the truth of his beliefs than ever before. Indeed, he may even show a new fervor for convincing and converting other people to his view.”
  • Source: Leon Festinger, In When Prophecy Fails (1956), 3.
Keywords: Individual_quotes Belief_quotes Commitment_quotes Heart_quotes Irrevocable_quotes Action_quotes Evidence_quotes Proof_quotes Wrong_quotes Self-Deception_quotes Truth_quotes Error_quotes Convince_quotes Conversion_quotes People_quotes

Henry_Ford

Excess Organization

“That which one has to fight hardest against in bringing together a large number of people to do work is excess organization and consequent red tape. To my mind there is no bent of mind more dangerous than that which is sometimes described as the ”genius for organization.” This usually results in the birth of a great big chart showing, after the fashion of a family tree, how authority ramifies.”
  • 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 VI.
Keywords: Fight_quotes Hard_quotes People_quotes Work_quotes Excess_quotes Organization_quotes Red_Tape_quotes Mind_quotes Danger_quotes Genius_quotes Birth_quotes Chart_quotes Authority_quotes Hierarchy_quotes Bureaucracy_quotes Family_quotes Tree_quotes

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.
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

Human Humanity

“It is a shock when the mind awakens to the fact that not all of humanity is human – that whole groups of people do not regard others with humane feelings.”
  • 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 XVIII.
Keywords: Shock_quotes Mind_quotes Awake_quotes Fact_quotes Humanity_quotes People_quotes Regard_quotes Empathy_quotes Feel_quotes Humane_quotes

Charity

“Why should there by any necessity for almsgiving in a civilized community? It is not the charitable mind to which I object. Heaven forbid that we should ever grow cold toward a fellow creature in need. Human sympathy is too fine for the cool, calculating attitude to take its place. One can name very few great advances that did not have human sympathy behind them. It is in order to help people that every notable service is undertaken. The trouble is that we have been using this great, fine motive force for ends too small. If human sympathy prompts us to feed the hungry, why should it not give the larger desire – to make hunger in our midst impossible? If we have sympathy enough for people to help them out of their troubles, surely we ought to have sympathy enough to keep them out.”
  • 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 XV.
Keywords: Alms_quotes Charity_quotes Civilization_quotes Community_quotes Society_quotes Poverty_quotes Empathy_quotes Need_quotes Sympathy_quotes Calculation_quotes Progress_quotes Help_quotes Service_quotes Action_quotes Trouble_quotes Motivation_quotes Force_quotes Small_quotes Large_quotes Hunger_quotes Desire_quotes Impossibility_quotes Prevent_quotes Mind_quotes Heaven_quotes Forbid_quotes Grow_quotes Cold_quotes Creature_quotes Human_quotes Cool_quotes Attitude_quotes Advance_quotes People_quotes Notable_quotes Undertake_quotes Feed_quotes

Martin_Fowler

Software Limitations

“Software is not limited by physics, like buildings are. It is limited by imagination, by design, by organization. In short, it is limited by properties of people, not by properties of the world. ‘We have met the enemy, and he is us.’”
  • Source: Article/Author: Martin Fowler; Publication/Date: 2003; Article/Title: “Who Needs an Architect?”; Publication: IEEE Software; Volume: 20; Number: 5; Pages: 11-13; Online: http://doi.org/10.1109/MS.2003.1231144. Retrieval/Date: 2020.
Keywords: Software_quotes Limitation_quotes Building_quotes Imagination_quotes Design_quotes Organization_quotes Physics_quotes Property_quotes People_quotes World_quotes Enemy_quotes

Alexander_G_Fraser

Top Down Bottom Up

“In the designs I have been involved in, and which have not involved too many people, I have not been able to identify whether these have been ‘top-down’ or ‘bottom-up’. They seem to me to be more like frame stressing,”
Keywords: Top_quotes Down_quotes Bottom_quotes Up_quotes Design_quotes Programming_quotes People_quotes Frame_quotes Stress_quotes Identify_quotes

Stuart_Hameroff

Brain Neurons

“Well I used to think as other people do that the brain is a computer and I think instead, as I have said before, it's more of a multi-scale hierarchical system. More like a musical system in some sense. I'd refer to it as a quantum orchestra. Because I think the computational metaphor doesn't work because, well it works to a point but it treats neurons  as simple on/off switches and that's an insult to neurons... If you go inside neurons there's all this interesting, I hate to use the word complex because I think complexity is often the last refuge of the bewildered. Just say it's complex and that explains everything which I think is wrong. But you have all this structure, these microtubules doing all this interesting quantum stuff and quantum computation reducing by OR [Orchestrated Objective Reduction/Orch OR] is not the kind of computation I was disillusioned with. So, I'd say that one thing is that the brain is a multi-scale hierarchal system more like music than a classical computer.”
  • Source: Stuart Hameroff speaking in the YouTube video entitled “Sir Roger Penrose & Stuart Hameroff: Collapsing a theory of quantum consciousness? Part 2 (248)” on the channel entitled “Dr Brian Keating” streamed live 2022-08-05, retrieved 2024-04-17 from <https://www.youtube.com/live/OoDi856wLPM?si=XJrLm0AVUIl_dECG>.
Keywords: Think_quotes People_quotes Brain_quotes Computer_quotes Multi-Scale_quotes Hierarchical_quotes Music_quotes Quantum_quotes System_quotes Sense_quotes Orchestra_quotes Metaphor_quotes Work_quotes Point_quotes Treat_quotes Neuron_quotes Simple_quotes On-Off_quotes Switch_quotes Insult_quotes Inside_quotes Interest_quotes Hate_quotes Complex_quotes Last_quotes Refuge_quotes Bewilder_quotes Say_quotes Explain_quotes Everything_quotes Wrong_quotes Structure_quotes Microtubule_quotes Stuff_quotes Computation_quotes Reduce_quotes Orch-OR_quotes Kind_quotes Disillusion_quotes Classical_quotes

Yuval_Noah_Harari

Wisdom Depends

“Wisdom is commonly understood to mean ‘making right decisions,’ but what ‘right’ means depends on value judgments that differ among diverse people, cultures, and ideologies.”
  • Source: Yuval Noah Harari writing in his book ‘Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI’. Published in 2024 by Random House. Kindle edition. Prologue page XVI. ISBN 978-0593734247.
Keywords: Wisdom_quotes Understand_quotes Common_quotes Mean_quotes Make_quotes Right_quotes Decision_quotes Depend_quotes Value_quotes Judgment_quotes Differ_quotes Diverse_quotes People_quotes Culture_quotes Ideology_quotes

Stephen_Hawking

Extraterrestrials

“[On the possibility of contact with an alien civilization:] I think it would be a disaster. The extraterrestrials would probably be far in advance of us. The history of advanced races meeting more primitive people on this planet is not very happy, and they were the same species. I think we should keep our heads low.”
  • Source: Stephen Hawking on an appearance in the National Geographic Channel program “Naked Science: Alien Contact”. As quoted in The New York Times in the 2004-11-24 issue.
Keywords: Extraterrestrial_quotes Possibility_quotes Contact_quotes Alien_quotes Civilization_quotes Disaster_quotes Far_quotes Advance_quotes History_quotes Race_quotes Meet_quotes Primitive_quotes People_quotes Happy_quotes Species_quotes Keep_quotes Head_quotes Low_quotes

Joseph_Heller

Educate People

“It was neither possible nor necessary to educate people who never questioned anything.”
  • Source: Heller, Joseph. 'Catch-22: 50th Anniversary Edition'. Chapter 4 'Doc Daneeka', page 36. Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.
Keywords: Possible_quotes Necessary_quotes Educate_quotes People_quotes Question_quotes

Mysterious Ways

“‘And don’t tell me God works in mysterious ways,’ Yossarian continued, hurtling on over her objection. ‘There’s nothing so mysterious about it. He’s not working at all. He’s playing. Or else He’s forgotten all about us. That’s the kind of God you people talk about — a country bumpkin, a clumsy, bungling, brainless, conceited, uncouth hayseed. Good God, how much reverence can you have for a Supreme Being who finds it necessary to include such phenomena as phlegm and tooth decay in His divine system of creation? What in the world was running through that warped, evil, scatological mind of His when He robbed old people of the power to control their bowel movements? Why in the world did He ever create pain?’”
  • Source: Heller, Joseph. 'Catch-22: 50th Anniversary Edition'. Chapter 18 'The Soldier Who Saw Everything Twice', page 207. Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.
Keywords: God_quotes Work_quotes Mysterious_quotes Play_quotes Forget_quotes Kind_quotes People_quotes Talk_quotes Country_quotes Bumpkin_quotes Clumsy_quotes Bungling_quotes Brainless_quotes Conceited_quotes Uncouth_quotes Hayseed_quotes Reverence_quotes Supreme_quotes Being_quotes Necessary_quotes Phenomena_quotes Phlegm_quotes Tooth_quotes Decay_quotes Divine_quotes System_quotes Creation_quotes World_quotes Warp_quotes Evil_quotes Scatological_quotes Mind_quotes Rob_quotes Old_quotes Power_quotes Control_quotes Bowel_quotes Movement_quotes Pain_quotes

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

Tony_Hoare

All Problems Technical

“Basically, all problems are technical. If you know what you want to do and you have the necessary technical background, there is no point in making a great management problem out of it. Obviously, a certain amount of resource control and personnel work has to go on but that’s all. On the other hand, you might have a task which is difficult in that you don’t know what you have to do, and that even if you did you wouldn’t know how to do it. Since this is a very difficult task you can start out with the hypothesis that it will take a great number of people. Following down this slippery slope of reasoning, as soon as you have a very large number of people you have a very large management problem. But it all originated out of the fact that you didn’t know what you were doing, or how to do it.”
  • Source: C.A.R.Hoare in Ercoli, P., Bauer, F. L., Aron, J. D., & Hoare, C. A. R. (1970). Software Engineering Techniques: Report on a Conference Sponsored by the NATO Science Committee, Rome, Italy, 27th to 31 October 1969. (J. N. Buxton & B. Randell, Eds.). Retrieved from http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/brian.randell/NATO/nato1969.PDF.
Keywords: Problem_quotes Technology_quotes Knowledge_quotes Management_quotes Resource_quotes Control_quotes Personnel_quotes Work_quotes Difficulty_quotes Hypothesis_quotes Effort_quotes Slippery_quotes Slope_quotes Reason_quotes Large_quotes Ignorance_quotes Want_quotes Necessary_quotes Background_quotes Task_quotes People_quotes Originate_quotes Fact_quotes

Grace_Hopper

Manage Things Lead People

“You manage things, you lead people. We went overboard on management and forgot about leadership. It might help if we ran the MBAs out of Washington.”
  • Source: Grace Hopper as quoted in "The Wit and Wisdom of Grace Hopper" by Philip Schieber in OCLC Newsletter, No. 167 (March/April 1987).
Keywords: People_quotes Management_quotes Leadership_quotes Law_quotes Overboard_quotes Forget_quotes Help_quotes MBA_quotes Washington_quotes

Information Flood

“We're flooding people with information. We need to feed it through a processor. A human must turn information into intelligence or knowledge. We've tended to forget that no computer will ever ask a new question.”
  • Source: Grace Hopper as quoted in "The Wit and Wisdom of Grace Hopper" by Philip Schieber in OCLC Newsletter, No. 167 (March/April 1987).
Keywords: Information_quotes Knowledge_quotes Artificial_Intelligence_quotes Creativity_quotes Flood_quotes People_quotes Feed_quotes Processor_quotes Human_quotes Intelligence_quotes Forget_quotes Computer_quotes Ask_quotes New_quotes Question_quotes

Change Mind

“One of the major difficulties is the difficulty of changing people's minds.”
  • 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 25:45.
Keywords: Major_quotes Difficulty_quotes Change_quotes People_quotes Mind_quotes

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

Patterson_Hume

University Software Experience

“What really worries me about software engineering is, do universities have to engage in large software projects in order to remain experts in the field of software engineering? Do they have to hire people who have had such experience with large projects, or do they have to have their professors go out and as consultants experience large software engineering projects? Then, when they come to exercise the students, do they have to have laboratories of some considerable consequence in software engineering exercises? Otherwise, who is to formulate principles of software engineering that can be used to train software engineers?”
Keywords: Worry_quotes Software_Engineering_quotes University_quotes Large_quotes Project_quotes Expert_quotes Experience_quotes Hire_quotes Consultant_quotes Professor_quotes Exercise_quotes Student_quotes Laboratory_quotes Formulation_quotes Training_quotes Engineering_quotes People_quotes

Aldous_Huxley

Science without Art

“The peoples of the West no longer share a literature and a system of ancient wisdom. All that they now have in common is science and information. Now, science is knowledge, not wisdom; deals with quantities, not with the qualities of which we are immediately aware. In so far as we are enjoying and suffering beings, its words seem to us mostly irrelevant and beside the point. Moreover, these words are arranged without art; therefore possess no magical power and are incapable of propping or moulding the mind of the reader.”
  • Source: Aldous Huxley (1936). An essay entitled Words and Behavior within the book The Olive Tree and Other Essays, published by Harper and Brothers, ASIN: B08VNTBLY4.
Keywords: People_quotes West_quotes Sharing_quotes Literature_quotes System_quotes Ancient_quotes Wisdom_quotes Common_quotes Science_quotes Information_quotes Knowledge_quotes Deal_quotes Quantity_quotes Quality_quotes Aware_quotes Enjoy_quotes Suffering_quotes Being_quotes Relevance_quotes Point_quotes Word_quotes Arrangement_quotes Art_quotes Possess_quotes Magic_quotes Power_quotes Capability_quotes Prop_quotes Mold_quotes Mind_quotes Reading_quotes

Information Defeats Its Own Object

“In a certain sense our passion for information defeats its own object, which is increased knowledge of the world and other human beings. We are provided with a vastly greater supply of facts than our ancestors ever had an opportunity of considering. And yet our knowledge of other peoples is probably less thorough and intimate than theirs.”
  • ASource: ldous Huxley (1936). An essay entitled Words and Behavior within the book The Olive Tree and Other Essays, published by Harper and Brothers, ASIN: B08VNTBLY4.
Keywords: Sense_quotes Passion_quotes Information_quotes Defeat_quotes Object_quotes Increasing_quotes Knowledge_quotes World_quotes Human_quotes Being_quotes Provide_quotes Supply_quotes Fact_quotes Ancestor_quotes Opportunity_quotes Consider_quotes People_quotes Intimate_quotes

Steve_Jobs

Misfits

“Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
  • Source: Steve Jobs in “Motivating Thoughts of Steve Jobs”, published by Prabhat Prakashan in 2020. ISBN: 9789351869191.
Keywords: Crazy_quotes Misfit_quotes Rebel_quotes Troublemaker_quotes Round_quotes Peg_quotes Square_quotes Hole_quotes See_quotes Different_quotes Fond_quotes Rule_quotes Respect_quotes Status_Quo_quotes Quote_quotes Disagree_quotes Glorify_quotes Vilify_quotes Ignore_quotes Change_quotes Human_quotes Race_quotes Forward_quotes Genius_quotes People_quotes Think_quotes World_quotes

Show_Them

“We have a lot of customers, and we have a lot of research into our installed base. We also watch industry trends pretty carefully. But in the end, for something this complicated, it's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them. That's why a lot of people at Apple get paid a lot of money, because they're supposed to be on top of these things.”
Keywords: Customer_quotes Research_quotes Base_quotes Watch_quotes Industry_quotes Trend_quotes Complicated_quotes Hard_quotes Design_quotes Product_quotes Focus_quotes Group_quotes People_quotes Known_quotes Want_quotes Show_quotes Paid_quotes Lot_quotes Money_quotes Supposed_quotes Top_quotes

Carl_Jung

Laws and Teachings

“Laws and teachings held in common compel people to solitude, so that they may escape the pressure of undesirable contact, but solitude makes people hostile and venomous. Therefore give people dignity and let each of them stand apart, so that each may find his own fellowship and love it. Power stands against power, contempt against contempt, love against love. Give humanity dignity, and trust that life will find the better way.”
  • Source: Written by Carl G. Jung in ‘The Red Book’, also known as ‘Liber Novus’, which was originally written from 1914 to 1930. It was first published in 2009 by W. W. Norton in a facsimile edition, complete with an English translation. The edition used here is the book ‘The Red Book: Liber Novus: A Reader's Edition’, written by C. G. Jung, edited with an introduction by Sonu Shamdasani, translated by Mark Kyburz, John Peck, and Sonu Shamdasani; published by W. W. Norton in 2012; ISBN 978-0393089080; Page 126.
Keywords: Law_quotes Teaching_quotes Hold_quotes Common_quotes Compel_quotes People_quotes Solitude_quotes Escape_quotes Pressure_quotes Undesirable_quotes Contact_quotes Hostile_quotes Venomous_quotes Dignity_quotes Stand_quotes Apart_quotes Each_quotes Find_quotes Fellowship_quotes Love_quotes Power_quotes Contempt_quotes Humanity_quotes Trust_quotes Life_quotes Better_quotes Way_quotes

Daniel_Kahneman

Repetition

“A reliable way to make people believe in falsehoods is frequent repetition, because familiarity is not easily distinguished from truth.”
Keywords: Reliability_quotes People_quotes Belief_quotes Falsehood_quotes Frequency_quotes Repetition_quotes Familiar_quotes Easy_quotes Distinguish_quotes Truth_quotes Deception_quotes

Learn by Surprise

“You are more likely to learn something by finding surprises in your own behavior than by hearing surprising facts about people in general.”
Keywords: Learning_quotes Find_quotes Surprise_quotes Behavior_quotes Hearing_quotes Fact_quotes People_quotes

Johannes_Kepler

Physical Causes

“Some physical causes are recognized by all; others, by only very few people; indeed, many things exist naturally, but from causes hitherto known to no man. And of the causes, which we know, there are some whose kind and nature we all usually understand, and others whose kind or indirect cause are understood by very few people, or by nobody.”
  • Source: Johannes Kepler in “Fundamentis. Astrologiae Certioribus - Thesis IV”.
Keywords: Physical_quotes Causality_quotes Recognize_quotes All_quotes Few_quotes People_quotes Exist_quotes Natural_quotes Known_quotes Man_quotes Human_quotes Kind_quotes Nature_quotes Usual_quotes Understand_quotes Indirect_quotes Nobody_quotes

Kenneth_W_Kolence

Software Engineer

“There are people who call themselves software engineers, and who build software systems that other people trust their lives to that software. So a great deal of progress has really been made since 1962 (when I first began considering myself as a software engineer) and in that respect toward what may be considered as a valid engineering capability. ... Using the term [Software Engineering] ... actually did, for the first time, provide programmers with a more professional description of what they were trying to do. In my opinion, that was a very good thing.”
Keywords: People_quotes Software_Engineering_quotes Programming_quotes Trust_quotes Life_quotes Software_quotes Progress_quotes Engineering_quotes Validity_quotes Capability_quotes Professional_quotes Build_quotes Term_quotes First_quotes Time_quotes Provide_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

Original Thought

“Original thought is like original sin: both happened before you were born to people you could not possibly have met.”
  • Source: From the book "Social Studies", written by Fran Lebowitz, publication date 1981, published by Random House, ISBN 978-0394512457.
Keywords: Originality_quotes Creativity_quotes Sin_quotes Birth_quotes People_quotes Meeting_quotes Thinking_quotes

Karl_Marx

Religion

“Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo. Criticism has plucked the imaginary flowers on the chain not in order that man shall continue to bear that chain without fantasy or consolation, but so that he shall throw off the chain and pluck the living flower.”
  • Source: Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right, Introduction..., p. 1 (1843).
Keywords: Religion_quotes Suffering_quotes Protest_quotes Oppression_quotes World_quotes Heartless_quotes Soul_quotes Opium_quotes Abolition_quotes Illusion_quotes Happiness_quotes People_quotes Humanity_quotes Criticism_quotes Embryo_quotes Crying_quotes Subjugation_quotes Chain_quotes Fantasy_quotes Consolation_quotes Flower_quotes Expression_quotes Sigh_quotes Creature_quotes Heart_quotes Demand_quotes Vale_quotes Tear_quotes Halo_quotes Bear_quotes Pluck_quotes

Conquest

“If conquest constitutes a natural right on the part of the few, the many have only to gather sufficient strength in order to acquire the natural right of reconquering what has been taken from them.”
  • Source: The Abolition of Landed Property (3 December 1869)
Keywords: Conquest_quotes Natural_quotes Elite_quotes People_quotes Power_quotes Revolution_quotes Rights_quotes Constitute_quotes Few_quotes Many_quotes Gather_quotes Sufficient_quotes Acquire_quotes Conquer_quotes Reconquer_quotes Take_quotes

Abraham_Maslow

Selfhood

“...it is reasonable to assume in practically every human being... there is an active will towards health, an impulse towards growth, or toward the actualization of human potentialities. But at once we are confronted with the saddening realization that so few people make it. Only a small proportion of the human population get to the point of identity, or of selfhood, full humanness, self-actualization.”
  • Source: Abraham H. Maslow, ‘Farther Reaches of Human Nature’ (1971), ISBN 0140194703.
Keywords: Reason_quotes Assumption_quotes Free_Will_quotes Health_quotes Growth_quotes Actualization_quotes Potential_quotes Humanity_quotes Confront_quotes Sad_quotes Realization_quotes People_quotes Population_quotes Identity_quotes Selfhood_quotes Self-Actualization_quotes Human_quotes Active_quotes Will_quotes Impulse_quotes Proportion_quotes

David_E_Nye

People Demand Speed

“People demand speed and immediacy, a maximum of experience in a minimum of time.”
  • 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 185.
Keywords: People_quotes Demand_quotes Speed_quotes Immediacy_quotes Maximum_quotes Minimum_quotes Time_quotes

J_Robert_Oppenheimer

World Would Not Be the Same

“We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita; Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and, to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form and says, ‘Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.’ I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.”
  • Source: Oppenheimer is quoting from the 1944 Prabhavananda and Isherwood translation of the Bhagavad Gita. The line quoted is spoken by Krishna, one of the major avatars of Vishnu; some assert that the passage would be better translated "I am become Time, the destroyer of worlds." online video at atomicarchive.com<nowiki>. Also an interview about the Trinity explosion, first broadcast as part of the television documentary The Decision to Drop the Bomb (1965), produced by Fred Freed, NBC White Paper; atomicarchive.com
Keywords: Knowledge_quotes World_quotes Status_Quo_quotes Change_quotes Same_quotes People_quotes Few_quotes Laughter_quotes Crying_quotes Silence_quotes Hindu_quotes Persuasion_quotes Prince_quotes Duty_quotes Impress_quotes Arm_quotes Death_quotes Destruction_quotes Suppose_quotes Thinking_quotes Way_quotes Form_quotes Become_quotes Bhagavad-Gita_quotes Vishnu_quotes

Richard_Pascale

Think and Act

“People are much more likely to act their way into a new way of thinking, than think their way into a new way of acting.”

  • Source: Richard Pascale, Mark Milleman, Linda Gioja (2001). “Surfing the Edge of Chaos: The Laws of Nature and the New Laws of Business”, p.229, Crown Business
Keywords: People_quotes Likelihood_quotes Act_quotes Way_quotes Thinking_quotes

Roger_Penrose

Self-Evident Truth

“Like so many works that have had a great impact on human thinking, it [Schrödinger's book ‘What is Life’] makes points that, once they are grasped, have a ring of almost self-evident truth; yet they are still blindly ignored by a disconcertingly large proportion of people who should know better.”

Keywords: Work_quotes Impact_quotes Human_quotes Thinking_quotes Point_quotes Grasp_quotes Ring_quotes Self-evident_quotes Truth_quotes Truism_quotes Life_quotes Blind_quotes Ignore_quotes Disconcerting_quotes Proportion_quotes People_quotes Knowledge_quotes Better_quotes Schrödinger(topic)_quotes

Alan_Perlis

Fit and Try

“Fundamentally, the procedure you mention, which is ‘fit-and-try’, will work very well with three or four people. If you have a hundred people the ‘fit-and-try’ process diverges because of lack of control.”
Keywords: Fundamental_quotes Mention_quotes Process_quotes Procedure_quotes Fit_quotes Try_quotes Work_quotes People_quotes Software_quotes Software_Engineering_quotes Development_quotes

Human Communication Limits

“A man can communicate with about five colleagues on a software project without too much difficulty. Likewise he can supervise about five people and know pretty well what they are doing. One would structure 120 people in three levels, in which no man is talking to more than about eight people, both across his level and up and down”
Keywords: Humanity_quotes Communication_quotes Colleague_quotes Software_quotes Project_quotes Difficulty_quotes Supervision_quotes People_quotes Knowledge_quotes Do_quotes Structure_quotes Level_quotes Talking_quotes Up_quotes Down_quotes Across_quotes

Software Engineering Competence

“It is a fact that there are software engineers around today who are quite competent. There are systems in many places which are quite stable and which provide magnificent service. It is also the case that there are large numbers of efforts, containing large numbers of programs and programmers, which have no software engineers on them, that is that people function as though they did not know how to build software.”
  • Note: Un-indexed continuation of quote: “I have a number of questions: 1. Is it possible to have software engineers in the numbers in which we need them, without formal software engineering education? 2. Is software engineering the same as Computer Science? 3. Is software engineering best provided by baccalaureate programs in universities? Or by adult education courses? Or by two year courses following the standard grade school education? 4. Do the people educated in these programs have a growing and future role in our society? 5. Will they be useful enough in a firm or government or university, and is their value such that they can distribute their talents in other activities, or must they always remain programmers? 6. What curriculum do we have in mind for software engineers, regardless of what level we choose to educate them? 7. Is software engineering really different from what we now call systems engineering?”
Keywords: Fact_quotes Software_Engineering_quotes Competence_quotes System_quotes Place_quotes Stable_quotes Provide_quotes Magnificent_quotes Service_quotes Effort_quotes Large_quotesProgram_quotes Programmer_quotes People_quotes Knowledge_quotes Build_quotes Software_quotes Development_quotes Engineering_quotes

Program Sameness

“If two people write exactly the same program, each should be put in microcode and then they certainly won't be the same.”

Keywords: Programming_quotes Writing_quotes People_quotes Same_quotes Program_quotes Exact_quotes Microcode_quotes Certainty_quotes

Programming Impossible for Most

Most people find the concept of programming obvious, but the doing impossible.”
Keywords: Programming_quotes Most_quotes People_quotes Conceptual_quotes Obvious_quotes Do_quotes Impossibility_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

Computational Mind

“The mind is a system of organs of computation, designed by natural selection to solve the kinds of problems our ancestors faced in their foraging way of life, in particular, understanding and outmaneuvering objects, animals, plants, and other people.”
  • 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: Mind_quotes System_quotes Computation_quotes Organ_quotes Design_quotes Natural_Selection_quotes Solution_quotes Kind_quotes Problem_quotes Ancestor_quotes Forage_qoutes Way_quotes Life_quotes Understanding_quotes Maneuver_quotes Object_quotes Evolution_quotes Animal_quotes Plant_quotes People_quotes Prehistoric_quotes

Two Modes of Thinking

“People think in two modes. They can form fuzzy stereotypes by uninsightfully soaking up correlations among properties, taking advantage of the fact that things in the world tend to fall into clusters (things that bark also bite and lift their legs at hydrants). But people can also create systems of rules — intuitive theories — that define categories in terms of the rules that apply to them, and that treat all the members of the category equally.”
  • 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: Connectoplasm.
Keywords: People_quotes Thinking_quotes Mode_quotes Form_quotes Fuzzy_quotes Stereotype_quotes Uninsightful_quotes Soak_quotes Correlation_quotes Property_quotes Advantage_quotes Fact_quotes World_quotes Tendency_quotes Fall_quotes Cluster_quotes Bark_quotes Bite_quotes Leg_quotes Hydrant_quotes Create_quotes System_quotes Rule_quotes Intuition_quotes Definition_quotes Category_quotes Term_quotes Apply_quotes Treat_quotes Member_quotes Equal_quotes

Science

“In a large society with writing and institutionalized science, the cost of an exponential number of tests is repaid by the benefit of the resulting laws to a large number of people. That is why taxpayers are willing to fund scientific research. But for the provincial interests of a single individual or even a small band, good science isn’t worth the trouble.”
  • 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: Large_quotes Society_quotes Writing_quotes Institution_quotes Science_quotes Cost_quotes Exponential_quotes Number_quotes Testing_quotes Repay_quotes Benefit_quotes Result_quotes Law_quotes People_quotes Taxpayer_quotes Willing_quotes Fund_quotes Research_quotes Provincial_quotes Interest_quotes Single_quotes Individual_quotes Small_quotes Band_quotes Worth_quotes Trouble_quotes

Plato

Dreaming

“(Socrates) There's a question you must often have heard people ask - the question what evidence we could offer if we were asked whether in this present instant, at this moment, we are asleep and dreaming all our thoughts, or awake and talking to each other in real life.
(Theaetetus) Yes, Socrates, it certainly is difficult to find the proof we want here. The two states seem to correspond in all their characteristics. There is nothing to prevent us from thinking when we are asleep that we are having the very same discussion that we have just had. And when we dream that we are telling the story of a dream, there is an extraordinary likeness between the two experiences.”
  • Source: Plato, 'Theaetetus' 158bc
Keywords: Dreaming_quotes Reality_quotes Question_quotes Hear_quotes People_quotes Evidence_quotes Present_quotes Instant_quotes Moment_quotes Asleep_quotes Sleep_quotes Thought_quotes Awake_quotes Talk_quotes Real_quotes Life_quotes Difficult_quotes Find_quotes Proof_quotes State_quotes Correspond_quotes Characteristic_quotes Prevent_quotes Think_quotes Discussion_quotes Tell_quotes Story_quotes Extraordinary_quotes Likeness_quotes Experience_quotes Socrates(topic)_quotes Theaetetus(topic)_quotes

Michael_Polanyi

Second Hand Knowledge and Authority

“The amount of knowledge which we can justify from evidence directly available to us can never be large. The overwhelming proportion of our factual beliefs continue therefore to be held at second hand through trusting others, and in the great majority of cases our trust is placed in the authority of comparatively few people of widely acknowledged standing.”
  • Source: Michael Polanyi, Personal Knowledge (1958), 208.
Keywords: Amount_quotes Knowledge_quotes Justification_quotes Evidence_quotes Direct_quotes Availability_quotes Large_quotes Overwhelm_quotes Proportion_quotes Fact_quotes Belief_quotes Second-Hand_quotes Trust_quotes Majority_quotes Authority_quotes People_quotes Acknowledge_quotes Stand_quotes Few_quotes

Vast Knowledge First and Second Hand

“Nobody knows more than a tiny fragment of science well enough to judge its validity and value at first hand. For the rest he has to rely on views accepted at second hand on the authority of a community of people accredited as scientists. But this accrediting depends in its turn on a complex organization. For each member of the community can judge at first hand only a small number of his fellow members, and yet eventually each is accredited by all. What happens is that each recognizes as scientists a number of others by whom he is recognized as such in return, and these relations form chains which transmit these mutual recognitions at second hand through the whole community. This is how each member becomes directly or indirectly accredited by all. The system extends into the past. Its members recognize the same set of persons as their masters and derive from this allegiance a common tradition, of which each carries on a particular strand.”
  • Source: Michael Polanyi, Personal Knowledge (1958), 163.
Keywords: Vast_quotes Knowledge_quotes Tiny_quotes Fragment_quotes Accredit_quotes Dependence_quotes Turn_quotes Complexity_quotes Organization_quotes Member_quotes Community_quotes Science_quotes Judgment_quotes Validity_quotes Value_quotes First-Hand_quotes Reliance_quotes View_quotes Acceptance_quotes Second-Hand_quotes Authority_quotes People_quotes Scientist_quotes Number_quotes Small_quotes Fellow_quotes Eventual_quotes Recognition_quotes Return_quotes Relationship_quotes Chain_quotes Transmit_quotes Mutual_quotes Direct_quotes Indirect_quotes System_quotes Extend_quotes Past_quotes Master_quotes Derive_quotes Allegiance_quotes Common_quotes Tradition_quotes Carry_quotes Particular_quotes Strand_quotes

Karl_Popper

Confirmation Easy

“It is easy to obtain confirmations, or verifications, for nearly every theory — if we look for confirmations. Confirmations should count only if they are the result of risky predictions... A theory which is not refutable by any conceivable event is non-scientific. Irrefutability is not a virtue of a theory (as people often think) but a vice. Every genuine test of a theory is an attempt to falsify it, or refute it.”
  • Source: Karl Raimund Popper, Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge (1963), 36.
Keywords: Easy_quotes Obtain_quotes Confirmation_quotes Verification_quotes Theory_quotes Count_quotes Result_quotes Risk_quotes Prediction_quotes Refutation_quotes Conceivable_quotes Event_quotes Science_quotes Falsification_quotes Irrefutability_quotes Virtue_quotes People_quotes Thinking_quotes Vice_quotes Genuine_quotes Testing_quotes Attempt_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

Comparing Averages

“Averages have their place. If you’re comparing two different groups of people... as opposed to comparing two individuals from each of those groups — then the average can be useful.”
  • 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 11. ISBN: 978-0062358387 (e-book).
Keywords: Average_quotes Place_quotes Compare_quotes Different_quotes Group_quotes People_quotes Oppose_quotes Two_quotes Individual_quotes Each_quotes Useful_quotes

Bertrand_Russell

Pure Mathematics

“Pure mathematics consists entirely of assertions to the effect that, if such and such a proposition is true of anything, then such and such another proposition is true of that thing. It is essential not to discuss whether the first proposition is really true, and not to mention what the anything is, of which it is supposed to be true. Both these points would belong to applied mathematics. We start, in pure mathematics, from certain rules of inference, by which we can infer that if one proposition is true, then so is some other proposition. These rules of inference constitute the major part of the principles of formal logic. We then take any hypothesis that seems amusing and deduce its consequences. If our hypothesis is about anything, and not about some one or more particular things, then our deductions constitute mathematics. Thus mathematics may be defined as the subject in which we never know what we are talking about, nor whether what we are saying is true. People who have been puzzled by the beginnings of mathematics will, I hope, find comfort in this definition, and will probably agree that it is accurate.”
  • Source: “Recent Work on the Principles of Mathematics”, published in 1901 within International Monthly, Vol. 4. later published as the essay “Mathematics and the Metaphysicians” within the book “Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays” by Bertrand Russell published in 1917 by George Allen & Unwin, London, England.
Keywords: Pure_quotes Mathematics_quotes Consist_quotes Entire_quotes Assertion_quotes Effect_quotes Proposal_quotes True_quotes Essential_quotes Discussion_quotes First_quotes Mention_quotes Suppose_quotes Point_quotes Belong_quotes Application_quotes Certainty_quotes Rule_quotes Inference_quotes Constitute_quotes Major_quotes Part_quotes Principle_quotes Formal_quotes Logic_quotes Hypothesis_quotes Amuse_quotes Deduction_quotes Consequence_quotes Causality_quotes Particular_quotes Definition_quotes Subject_quotes Knowledge_quotes Uncertainty_quotes Talking_quotes Speak_quotes People_quotes Puzzle_quotes Confusion_quotes Begin_quotes Comfort_quotes Accuracy_quotes

Carl_Sagan

Religious Prophecy

“Think of how many religions attempt to validate themselves with prophecy. Think of how many people rely on these prophecies, however vague, however unfulfilled, to support or prop up their beliefs. Yet has there ever been a religion with the prophetic accuracy and reliability of science? ... No other human institution comes close.”
  • Source: Carl Sagan. The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, 1996.
Keywords: Thinking_quotes Religion_quotes Attempt_quotes Validation_quotes Prediction_quotes Prophecy_quotes People_quotes Reliance_quotes Vagueness_quotes Unfulfilled_quotes Support_quotes Prop_quotes Belief_quotes Accuracy_quotes Reliability_quotes Science_quotes Humanity_quotes Institution_quotes Closeness_quotes

Science Thinking

“Science is more than a body of knowledge. It's a way of thinking. A way of skeptically interrogating the universe with a fine understanding of the human fallibility. If we are not able to ask skeptical questions to interrogate those who tell us that something is true, to be skeptical of those in authority, then we are up for grabs for the next charlatan, political or religious, who comes ambling along. It is a thing that Jefferson laid great stress on. It wasn't enough he said to enshrine some rights in a constitution or bill of rights. The people had to be educated and they have to practice their skepticism and education. Otherwise we don't run the government. The government runs us.”
  • Source: Carl Sagen speaking in an video entitled 'CARL SAGEN - A Way of Thinking' posted on YouTube at https://youtu.be/J1cNaFG1VII , at 00:01:25 in video. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
Keywords: Science_quotes Body_quotes Knowledge_quotes Thinking_quotes Truth_quotes Skeptical_quotes Interrogate_quotes Understanding_quotes Human_quotes Fallibility_quotes Question_quotes Tell_quotes Authority_quotes Grab_quotes Charlatan_quotes Political_quotes Religion_quotes Amble_quotes Jefferson_quotes Lay_quotes Stress_quotes Great_quotes Enshrine_quotes Rights_quotes Constitution_quotes Bill_quotes People_quotes Education_quotes Practice_quotes Run_quotes Government_quotes Way_quotes

Jean-Paul_Sartre

Hell People

“There's no need for red-hot pokers. Hell is — other people!”
Keywords: Need_quotes Red_quotes Hot_quotes Poker_quotes Hell_quotes Other_quotes People_quotes

Herbert_Simon

Psychology of Choice

“Research findings on the psychology of choice, indicate some properties a thermometer of satisfaction should have. First, unlike the utility function, it is not limited to positive values, but has a zero point (of minimal contentment). Above zero, various degrees of satisfaction are experienced, and below zero, various degrees of dissatisfaction. Second, if periodic readings are taken of people in relatively stable life circumstances, we only occasionally find temperatures very far from zero in either direction, and the divergent measurements tend to regress over time back toward the zero mark. Most people consistently register either slightly below zero (mild discontent) or a little above (moderate satisfaction). To deal with these phenomena, psychology employs the concept of aspiration level... Aspiration levels provide a computational mechanism for satisficing.”
Keywords: Research_quotes Find_quotes Psychology_quotes Choice_quotes Indication_quotes Property_quotes Thermometer_quotes Satisfaction_quotes Utility_quotes Limitation_quotes Positive_quotes Value_quotes Zero_quotes Point_quotes Minimum_quotes Content_quotes Degree_quotes Experience_quotes Dissatisfaction_quotes Period_quotes People_quotes Relative_quotes Stable_quotes Life_quotes Circumstance_quotes Occasional_quotes Temperature_quotes Far_quotes Direction_quotes Divergent_quotes Measurement_quotes Regression_quotes Time_quotes Consistency_quotes Register_quotes Discontent_quotes Moderation_quotes Deal_quotes Phenomena_quotes Employment_quotes Conception_quotes Aspiration_quotes Level_quotes Computation_quotes Mechanism_quotes Satisfice_quotes

Adam_Smith

Price Contrivance

“People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.”
  • Source: Adam Smith (1776) An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. London, England: ‎W. Strahan and T. Cadell. Book I chapter X.
Keywords: People_quotes Trade_quotes Seldom_quotes Meeting_quotes Merriment_quotes Divergent_quotes Conversation_quotes End_quotes Conspiracy_quotes Public_quotes Contrive_quotes Rise_quotes Price_quotes

Albert_Speer

Departure from Reality

“The departure from reality, which was visibly spreading like a contagion, was no peculiarity... In normal circumstances people who turn their backs on reality are soon set straight by the mockery and criticism of those around them. which makes them aware they have lost credibility... There were no such corrections, especially for those who belonged to the upper stratum. On the contrary, every self-deception was multiplied as in a hall of distorting mirrors, becoming a repeatedly confirmed picture of a fantastical dream world which no longer bore any relationship to the grim outside world.”
  • Source: From the book "Inside the Third Reich" by Albert Speer, published 1970 by Simon and Schuster, ISBN 978-0-684-82949-4. Chapter 20, page 291.
Keywords: Depart_quotes Reality_quotes Visibility_quotes Spread_quotes Contagion_quotes Peculiar_quotes Normal_quotes Circumstance_quotes People_quotes Turn_quotes Back_quotes Soon_quotes Straight_quotes Mock_quotes Criticism_quotes Around_quotes Aware_quotes Lost_quotes Credibility_quotes Correction_quotes Belong_quotes Upper_quotes Stratum_quotes Self-Deception_quotes Multiply_quotes Hall_quotes Distort_quotes Mirror_quotes Become_quotes Repeat_quotes Confirmation_quotes Picture_quotes Fantastic_quotes Dream_quotes World_quotes Relationship_quotes Grim_quotes Outside_quotes

Frederick_Winslow_Taylor

Soldiering

“Under working, that is, deliberately working slowly so as to avoid doing a full day's work, 'soldiering,' as it is called in this country, 'hanging it out,' as it is called in England, 'ca canae,' as it is called in Scotland, is almost universal in industrial establishments, and prevails also to a large extent in the building trades; and the writer asserts without fear of contradiction that this constitutes the greatest evil with which the working-people of both England and America are now afflicted.”
  • Source: F.W. Taylor (1911). Principles of Scientific Management. New York and London, Harper & brothers. chap. 1.
Keywords: Work_quotes Soldiering_quotes Avoidance_quotes Lazy_quotes Universal_quotes Industrial_quotes Building_quotes Evil_quotes Deliberate_quotes Slow_quotes Full_quotes Day_quotes Call_quotes Country_quotes England_quotes Scotland_quotes Establishment_quotes Prevail_quotes Large_quotes Extent_quotes Trade_quotes Writer_quotes Assert_quotes Contradiction_quotes Constitute_quotes People_quotes America_quotes Afflict_quotes

Shannon_Vallor

Fighting AI

“We can’t fight AI without fighting ourselves. The harms to people and to society that may follow from our relationship to ‘intelligent’ machines are not foreign assaults, but symptoms of an internal disorder: a fully human pathology that requires collective self-examination, critique, and most of all, healing.”
  • Source: From the book “The AI Mirror” by Shannon Vallor. Published 2024 by Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0197759066. Introduction, page 4.
Keywords: AI_quotes Artificial_quotes Intelligence_quotes Fight_quotes Ourself_quotes Harm_quotes People_quotes Society_quotes Follow_quotes Relationship_quotes Machine_quotes Foreign_quotes Assault_quotes Symptom_quotes Internal_quotes Disorder_quotes Full_quotes Human_quotes Pathology_quotes Require_quotes Collective_quotes Self_quotes Examination_quotes Critique_quotes Heal_quotes

Gerald_Weinberg

Think Well

“Most people don't think nearly as well as they could.”
  • Source: Weinberg, Gerald (2011-04-07). An Introduction to General Systems Thinking (Kindle Location 76). Weinberg & Weinberg. Kindle Edition.
Keywords: Thinking_quotes People_quotes Well_quotes Potential_quotes

Correct Models

“Such models need not be correct; in fact, one does not so much ask whether or not the model is correct as whether it adequately or inadequately fulfills its purpose. When we travel to work, we unconsciously use a flat-Earth model of the terrain, as we think most people do on their ordinary journeys.”
  • Source: Weinberg, Gerald (2011-06-03). Passive Regulation: General Systems Design Principles (General Systems Thinking) (Kindle Locations 2186-2188). Weinberg & Weinberg. Kindle Edition.
Keywords: Model_quotes Correctness_quotes Adequate_quotes Inadequate_quotes Purpose_quotes Travel_quotes Earth_quotes Consciousness_quotes Work_quotes Unconscious_quotes Flat_quotes Terrain_quotes Think_quotes People_quotes Ordinary_quotes Journey_quotes

Want Problems Solved

“Not too many people, in the final analysis, really want their problems solved.”
  • Source: Are Your Lights On?: How to Figure Out What the Problem Really Is by Donald C. Gause and Gerald M. Weinberg
Keywords: Want_quotes People_quotes Analysis_quotes Problem_quotes Solution_quotes Requirements_quotes Final_quotes

Know What They Want

“In spite of appearances, people seldom know what they want until you give them what they ask for.”
  • Source: Are Your Lights On?: How to Figure Out What the Problem Really Is by Donald C. Gause and Gerald M. Weinberg
Keywords: Appearance_quotes People_quotes Knowledge_quotes Want_quotes Give_quotes Ask_quotes Requirements_quotes

Small Teams More Efficient

“In any case, the basic rule for size and composition of programming teams would seem to be this — for the best programming at the least cost, give the best possible programmers you can find sufficient time so you need the smallest number of them. When you have to work faster, or with less experienced people, costs and uncertainties will rise. In any case, the worst way to do a programming project is to hire a horde of trainees and put them to work under pressure and without supervision — although this is the most common practice today.”
  • Source: Chapter 5. Weinberg, G. M. (2011). The Psychology of Computer Programming (Silver anniversary edition) | 1971. Weinberg & Weinberg.
Keywords: Rule_quotes Size_quotes Programming_quotes Programmer_quotes Team_quotes Cost_quotes Slack_quotes Time_quotes Fast_quotes Experience_quotes People_quotes Hiring_quotes Training_quotes Pressure_quotes Supervision_quotes Management_quotes Practice_quotes Common_quotes Basic_quotes Composition_quotes Quality_quotes Small_quotes Rise_quotes Uncertainty_quotes Worse_quotes Way_quotes Project_quotes Horde_quotes Trainee_quotes Work_quotes

Programming Not Individual

“But there is much evidence, as we shall see presently, to argue that the proper study of programming is done at the level of the programming social unit. Not that the individual level is unimportant, but we might start by asking why, if the average programmer spends two-thirds of his time working with other people rather than working alone (yes, it's true!), that 99 percent of the studies have been on individual programmers.”
  • Source: Chapter 3. Weinberg, G. M. (2011). The Psychology of Computer Programming (Silver anniversary edition) | 1971. Weinberg & Weinberg.
Keywords: Evidence_quotes Programming_quotes Society_quotes Group_quotes Team_quotes Organization_quotes Level_quotes Individual_quotes Importance_quotes Programmer_quotes Time_quotes Productivity_quotes Research_quotes Study_quotes Social_quotes Unimportant_quotes Why_quotes Average_quotes People_quotes Coordination_quotes Cooperation_quotes

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

Egoless Programming and John von Neumann

“Programming groups who have conquered the ego problem do exist and have existed from the earliest days of computing. John von Neumann himself was perhaps the first programmer to recognize his inadequacies with respect to examination of his own work. Those who knew him have said that he was constantly asserting what a lousy programmer he was, and that he incessantly pushed his programs on other people to read for errors and clumsiness. Yet the common image today of von Neumann is of the unparalleled computing genius — flawless in his every action. And indeed, there can be no doubt of von Neumann's genius. His very ability to realize his human limitations put him head and shoulders above the average programmer today. Average people can be trained to accept their humanity — their inability to function like a machine — and to value it and work with others so as to keep it under the kind of control needed if programming is to be successful.”
  • Source: Chapter 4. Weinberg, G. M. (2011). The Psychology of Computer Programming (Silver anniversary edition) | 1971. Weinberg & Weinberg.
Keywords: Egoless_quotes Programming_quotes Group_quotes Conquer_quotes Ego_quotes Computing_quotes Neumann_quotes Programmer_quotes Recognition_quotes Inadequacy_quotes Examination_quotes Peer_Review_quotes Error_quotes Clumsy_quotes Genius_quotes Flawless_quotes Action_quotes Doubt_quotes Ability_quotes Human_Limitations_quotes Training_quotes Humanity_quotes Functional_quotes Machine_quotes Control_quotes Success_quotes Problem_quotes Exist_quotes Earliest_quotes Respect_quotes Work_quotes Constant_quotes Assert_quotes Lousy_quotes Incessant_quotes Push_quotes People_quotes Read_quotes Image_quotes Unparallel_quotes Realize_quotes Human_quotes Limitation_quotes Head_quotes Shoulder_quotes Above_quotes Average_quotes Inability_quotes Value_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

Too Smart for Programming

“It is possible to be too smart for programming — if the person is not smart enough to use his intelligence to modify his social behavior and methods of communication.”
  • Source: Chapter 5. Weinberg, G. M. (2011). The Psychology of Computer Programming (Silver anniversary edition) | 1971. Weinberg & Weinberg.
Keywords: Possibility_quotes Smart_quotes Intellectualism_quotes People_quotes Modification_quotes Social_Behavior_quotes Methodology_quotes Communication_quotes Cooperation_quotes Programming_quotes Social_quotes Behavior_quotes

Thornton_Wilder

Something Eternal

“Now there are some things we all know, but we don't take'm out and look at'm very often. We all know that something is eternal. And it ain't houses and it ain't names, and it ain't earth, and it ain't even the stars... everybody knows in their bones that something is eternal, and that something has to do with human beings. All the greatest people ever lived have been telling us that for five thousand years and yet you'd be surprised how people are always losing hold of it. There's something way down deep that's eternal about every human being.”
  • Source: Thornton Wilder writing for the Stage Manager character in act three of the play 'Our Town', first published in 1938 by Coward McCann, Inc., New York.
Keywords: Now_quotes Thing_quotes Know_quotes Take_quotes Look_quotes Often_quotes Something_quotes Eternal_quotes House_quotes Name_quotes Earth_quotes Star_quotes Bone_quotes Human_quotes Being_quotes Great_quotes People_quotes Live_quotes Tell_quotes Year_quotes Surprise_quotes Lose_quotes Hold_quotes Deep_quotes Down_quotes Every_quotes

E_O_Wilson

Knowledge is the Ultimate Emancipator

“Pure knowledge is the ultimate emancipator. It equalizes people and sovereign states, erodes the archaic barriers of superstition and promises to lift the trajectory of cultural evolution. But I do not believe that it can change the ground rules of human behavior or alter the main course of history's predictable trajectory.”
  • Source: Chapter 4 (Emergence). On Human Nature (1978). On Human Nature; written by Edward O. Wilson; first edition; published in 1978 by Cambridge University Press; ISBN 0674634411.
Keywords: Pure_quotes Knowledge_quotes Ultimate_quotes Emancipator_quotes Equalize_quotes People_quotes Sovereign_quotes State_quotes Erode_quotes Archaic_quotes Barrier_quotes Change_quotes Ground_quotes Rule_quotes Human_quotes Behavior_quotes Superstition_quotes Promise_quotes Lift_quotes Trajectory_quotes Culture_quotes Evolution_quotes Believe_quotes Alter_quotes Main_quotes Course_quotes History_quotes Predict_quotes

Drowning in Information

“We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom. The world henceforth will be run by synthesizers, people able to put together the right information at the right time, think critically about it, and make important choices wisely.”
  • Source: p. 294 Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge (1998). Vintage Books. ISBN: 9780679450771. ISBN: 9780679768678.
Keywords: Drown_quotes Information_quotes Starve_quotes Wisdom_quotes World_quotes Run_quotes Synthesizer_quotes People_quotes Able_quotes Put_quotes Together_quotes Right_quotes Time_quotes Think_quotes Critical_quotes Choice_quotes Wise_quotes

Stephen_Wolfram

Paradigm Change

“When you change the paradigm, lots of stuff can come out. In science, the biggest paradigm change that's already happened... which is model things in nature with programs not with equations. For 300 years there was this tradition that [if] you want to make a model in science that's an exact model, write down a mathematical equation. People don't do that anymore in most areas of science... It's fun to see this transition from what seems impossible to what becomes obvious.”
  • Source: Spoken by Stephen Wolfram in a video interview with Brian Keating recorded in the YouTube video ‘What is Time? Stephen Wolfram’s Groundbreaking New Theory’ published on channel ‘Dr. Brian Keating’ on 2024-12-02. Video offset 1:13:57. Online at https://youtu.be/c-RO3vM10Ok?si=i-XspeEtzqA3jPl9 retrieved 2024.
Keywords: Change_quotes Paradigm_quotes Science_quotes Happen_quotes Model_quotes Nature_quotes Program_quotes Algorithm_quotes Equation_quotes Year_quotes Tradition_quotes Exact_quotes Mathematics_quotes People_quotes Do_quotes Area_quotes Fun_quotes Transition_quotes Seem_quotes Impossible_quotes Become_quotes Obvious_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

Technology People Change

“Technology changes more rapidly than predicted, but people change more slowly.”
  • 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 11, page 264.
Keywords: Technology_quotes Change_quotes Rapid_quotes Prediction_quotes People_quotes Slow_quotes

Israel_Zangwill

Democracy

“I recognize that Democracy is the least bad form of government. It is, of course, peculiarly liable to be exploited by demagogues, who, instead of uplifting the masses, use them as a means for lifting themselves up. But whereas there is no way of correcting a maleficent autocracy save by smashing it, a maleficent Democracy contains the cure for its own evils. For the people has a sound instinct in the long run.”
  • Source: Israel Zangwill. A speech. Address delivered before The American Jewish Congress, Carnegie Hall, New York City, October 14, 1923-10-14. Transcript published by The American Jewish Congress, New York. Entitled “Watchman, What of the Night?”.
Keywords: Democracy_quotes Least_quotes Bad_quotes Form_quotes Government_quotes Peculiar_quotes Liable_quotes Exploit_quotes Demagogue_quotes Uplift_quotes Mass_quotes Lift_quotes Way_quotes Correct_quotes Maleficent_quotes Autocracy_quotes Smash_quotes Contain_quotes Cure_quotes Evil_quotes People_quotes Sound_quotes Instinct_quotes Long_quotes Run_quotes

Shoshana_Zuboff

Manager Panic

“People at every organizational level -- managers, engineers, and operators -- each spent a good deal of time speculating on the sources of this dynamic and its ultimate consequences. One top manager maintained that the core of the problem was the lack of an alternative to the traditional managerial function. ‘The problem is that managers don't have skills and knowledge or a vision of their new role. They are asking, What is going to happen to me? And so they are in a panic.'”
  • Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 251. ISBN:0465032125.
Keywords: People_quotes Organization_quotes Hierarchy_quotes Consequence_quotes Tradition_quotes Skill_quotes Knowledge_quotes Vision_quotes Uncertainty_quotes Panic_quotes Level_quotes Manager_quotes Engineer_quotes Operator_quotes Time_quotes Speculate_quotes Source_quotes Dynamic_quotes Ultimate_quotes Top_quotes Maintain_quotes Core_quotes Problem_quotes Lack_quotes Alternative_quotes Function_quotes Role_quotes Happen_quotes

Computers Over People

“When managers express a preference for computers over people, the effects find their way into every corner of the worker's mind.”
  • Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 268. ISBN:0465032125.
Keywords: Management_quotes Preference_quotes People_quotes Computer_quotes Worker_quotes Mind_quotes Express_quotes Effect_quotes Find_quotes Way_quotes Corner_quotes

Abstract Work

“As the work that people do becomes more abstract, the need for positive motivation and internal commitment becomes all the more crucial.”
  • Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 291. ISBN:0465032125.
Keywords: Work_quotes Abstraction_quotes People_quotes Motivation_quotes Commitment_quotes Do_quotes Need_quotes Positive_quotes Internal_quotes Crucial_quotes

Panopticon Surveillance

“At each level of these organizations, people searched for ways to adapt to the intense illumination of the information panopticon. There was less room for interpersonal ploys or negotiated solutions and fewer hidden corners in which to enjoy anonymous repose or indulge in overtly negative behavior. To some, it seemed that only the human heart retained its privacy, out of reach and recalcitrant.”
  • Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 342. ISBN:0465032125.
Keywords: Panopticon_quotes Surveillance_quotes Search_quotes Adaptation_quotes Illumination_quotes Interpersonal_quotes Ploy_quotes Negotiation_quotes Solution_quotes Hiding_quotes Anonymity_quotes Negativity_quotes Behavior_quotes Humanity_quotes Heart_quotes Privacy_quotes Level_quotes Organization_quotes People_quotes Information_quotes Room_quotes Corner_quotes Repose_quotes Indulge_quotes Overt_quotes Retain_quotes Reach_quotes Recalcitrant_quotes
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