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Claude_Bernard
Excessive Faith
“Men who have excessive faith in their theories or ideas are not only ill prepared for making discoveries, they also make very poor observations.”
- Source: From the book "An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine" written by Claude Bernard published in French in 1865 as "Introduction à l'étude de la médecine expérimentale". Translated to English by Henry Copley Greene in 1927 and republished by Henry Shuman, Inc. in 1949. Chapter II, page 38. Available online at https://archive.org/details/b21270557 retrieved 2024.
- Keywords: Men_quotes Excess_quotes Faith_quotes Theory_quotes Ill_quotes Prepare_quotes Make_quotes Discovery_quotes Poor_quotes Observation_quotes
Edsger_Wybe_Dijkstra
Programming is Difficult
“Programming is one of the most difficult branches of applied mathematics; the poorer mathematicians had better remain pure mathematicians.”
- Source: Dijkstra (1975). How do we tell truths that might hurt? (numbered EWD498, written 1975). Retrieved from http://www.cs.utexas.edu
/users /EWD /transcriptions /EWD04xx /EWD498.html.
- Keywords: Programming_quotes Difficulty_quotes Branch_quotes Mathematics_quotes Apply_quotes Poor_quotes
Albert_Einstein
Magnificent Applied Science
“Why does this magnificent applied science which saves work and makes life easier bring us so little happiness? The simple answer runs: Because we have not yet learned to make sensible use of it. In war it serves that we may poison and mutilate each other. In peace it has made our lives hurried and uncertain. Instead of freeing us in great measure from spiritually exhausting labor, it has made men into slaves of machinery, who for the most part complete their monotonous long day's work with disgust and must continually tremble for their poor rations... It is not enough that you should understand about applied science in order that your work may increase man's blessings. Concern for the man himself and his fate must always form the chief interest of all technical endeavours; concern for the great unsolved problems of the organization of labor and the distribution of goods in order that the creations of our mind shall be a blessing and not a curse to mankind. Never forget this in the midst of your diagrams and equations.”
- Source: Albert Einstein [Speaker];
- 1950-02-16 [Speech/Date]; California Institute of Technology [Location]; CalTech students [Audience];
- 1950-02-17 [Reporting/Article/Date]; “Einstein Sees Lack in Applying Science” [Title]; Anonymous [Article/Author]; New York Times [Reporting/Newspaper]; 8 [Page];
- Keywords: Science_quotes Happiness_quotes War_quotes Wisdom_quotes Peace_quotes Work_quotes Slavery_quotes Automation_quotes Ethics_quotes Values_quotes Empathy_quotes Labor_quotes Distribution_quotes Mind_quotes Humanity_quotes Mathematics_quotes Engineering_quotes Magnificent_quotes Applied_quotes Save_quotes Life_quotes Simple_quotes Answer_quotes Learn_quotes Sensible_quotes Poison_quotes Mutilate_quotes Hurry_quotes Uncertain_quotes Freedom_quotes Spiritual_quotes Exhausting_quotes Men_quotes Machinery_quotes Monotonous_quotes Long_quotes Day_quotes Disgust_quotes Continual_quotes Tremble_quotes Poor_quotes Rations_quotes Understand_quotes Increase_quotes Blessing_quotes Man_quotes Fate_quotes Chief_quotes Interest_quotes Technical_quotes Endeavour_quotes Concern_quotes Problem_quotes Unsolved_quotes Organization_quotes Creation_quotes Curse_quotes Mankind_quotes Forget_quotes Diagram_quotes Equation_quotes
Robert_Heinlein
Reason
“Reason is poor propaganda when opposed by the yammering, unceasing lies of shrewd and evil and self-serving men. The little man has no way to judge and the shoddy lies are packaged more attractively. There is no way to offer color to a colorblind man, nor is there any way for us to give the man of imperfect brain the canny skill to distinguish a lie from a truth.”
- Source: Written by Robert A. Heinlein in the magazine series “Gulf” published in 1949-11 and 1949-12 issues of Astounding Science Fiction magazine. Page 62. Character: Dr. Baldwin. Online at https://www.luminist.org/archives/SF/AST.htm retrieved 2024-05-05.
- Keywords: Reason_quotes Poor_quotes Propaganda_quotes Oppose_quotes Yammer_quotes Unceasing_quotes Lie_quotes Shrewd_quotes Evil_quotes Self-serving_quotes Little_quotes Man_quotes Way_quotes Judge_quotes Shoddy_quotes Package_quotes Attractive_quotes Offer_quotes Color_quotes Colorblind_quotes Give_quotes Imperfect_quotes Brain_quotes Canny_quotes Skill_quotes Distinguish_quotes Truth_quotes
Joseph_Heller
Lousy Earth
“What a lousy earth! He wondered how many people were destitute that same night even in his own prosperous country, how many homes were shanties, how many husbands were drunk and wives socked, and how many children were bullied, abused or abandoned. How many families hungered for food they could not afford to buy? How many hearts were broken? How many suicides would take place that same night, how many people would go insane? How many cockroaches and landlords would triumph? How many winners were losers, successes failures, rich men poor men? How many wise guys were stupid? How many happy endings were unhappy endings? How many honest men were liars, brave men cowards, loyal men traitors, how many sainted men were corrupt, how many people in positions of trust had sold their souls to blackguards for petty cash, how many had never had souls? How many straight-and-narrow paths were crooked paths? How many best families were worst families and how many good people were bad people? When you added them all up and then subtracted, you might be left with only the children, and perhaps with Albert Einstein and an old violinist or sculptor somewhere.”
- Source: Heller, Joseph. 'Catch-22: 50th Anniversary Edition'. Chapter 39 'The Eternal City', page 483. Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition.
- Keywords: Lousy_quotes Earth_quotes Wonder_quotes People_quotes Destitute_quotes Night_quotes Country_quotes Home_quotes Shanty_quotes Husband_quotes Drunk_quotes Wife_quotes Socked_quotes Children_quotes Bully_quotes Abuse_quotes Abandoned_quotes Family_quotes Hungry_quotes Food_quotes Afford_quotes Buy_quotes Heart_quotes Broken_quotes Suicide_quotes Insanity_quotes Cockroach_quotes Landlord_quotes Triumph_quotes Win_quotes Lose_quotes Success_quotes Failure_quotes Rich_quotes Poor_quotes Men_quotes Wise_quotes Stupid_quotes Happy_quotes Ending_quotes Honest_quotes Liar_quotes Brave_quotes Coward_quotes Loyal_quotes Traitor_quotes Saint_quotes Corrupt_quotes Position_quotes Trust_quotes Sell_quotes Soul_quotes Blackguards_quotes Petty_quotes Cash_quotes Straight_quotes Narrow_quotes Crooked_quotes Path_quotes Good_quotes Bad_quotes Addition_quotes Subtraction_quotes Einstein(topic)_quotes Old_quotes Violin_quotes Sculptor_quotes
Peter_Medawar
Scientific Method
"The fact that scientists do not consciously practice a formal methodology is very poor evidence that no such methodology exists. It could be said — has been said — that there is a distinctive methodology of science which scientists practice unwittingly, like the chap in Moliere who found that all his life, unknowingly, he had been speaking prose.”
- Source: Sir Peter B. Medawar, Induction and Intuition in Scientific Thought (1969), 9.
- Keywords: Fact_quotes Science_quotes Consciousness_quotes Practice_quotes Formal_quotes Methodology_quotes Poor_quotes Evidence_quotes Distinct_quotes Unwitting_quotes Unintentional_quotes Unknown_quotes Speak_quotes Prose_quotes Exist_quotes Chap_quotes Moliere(topic)_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes
Alan_Perlis
Useful Software Systems
“We recognize that a practical problem of considerable difficulty and importance has arisen: The successful design, production and maintenance of useful software systems. The importance is obvious and the more so since we see only greater growth in demands and requirements in the future. The consequences of poor performance, poor design, instability and mismatching of promise and performance are not going to be limited to the computing fraternity, or even their nearest neighbors, but will affect considerable sections of our society whose ability to forgive is inversely proportional to their ignorance of the difficulties we face. The source of difficulty is distributed through the whole problem, easy to identify, and yet its cure is hard to pinpoint so that systematic improvement can be gotten.”
- Source: Alan Jay Perlis in a report entitled Software Engineering: Report of a Conference Sponsored by the NATO Science Committee. Chaired by Friedrich Ludwig Bauer. Edited by P. Naur; B. Randell. Conference held 1968-10-07 through 1968-10-11 in Garmisch, Germany. OCLC: 35337842. See http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/brian.randell/NATO/index.html ; http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/brian.randell/NATO/nato1968.PDF ; https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1102020 ; https://books.google.com/books/about/Software_engineering.html?id=Uc9QAAAAYAAJ . Page 78, Keynote address.
- Keywords: Usefulness_quotes Practical_quotes Problem_quotes Difficulty_quotes Importance_quotes Arise_quotes Success_quotes Design_quotes Production_quotes Maintain_quotes Software_quotes System_quotes Obvious_quotes Great_quotes Growth_quotes Demand_quotes Requirements_quotes Consequence_quotes Poor_quotes Performance_quotes Instability_quotes Mismatch_quotes Promise_quotes Go_quotes Limitation_quotes Computing_quotes Fraternity_quotes Near_quotes Neighbor_quotes Affect_quotes Considerable_quotes Section_quotes Society_quotes Ability_quotes Forgiveness_quotes Inverse_quotes Proportion_quotes Ignorance_quotes Face_quotes Source_quotes Distributed_quotes Easy_quotes Identify_quotes Cure_quotes Hard_quotes Pinpoint_quotes Improve_quotes
Carl_Sagan
Science Arouses Wonder
“Science arouses a soaring sense of wonder. But so does pseudoscience. Sparse and poor popularizations of science abandon ecological niches that pseudoscience promptly fills. If it were widely understood that claims to knowledge require adequate evidence before they can be accepted, there would be no room for pseudoscience.”
- Source: Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (1996), 6.
- Keywords: Science_quotes Arise_quotes Soar_quotes Wonder_quotes Pseudoscience_quotes Sparse_quotes Poor_quotes Popularity_quotes Abandon_quotes Ecology_quotes Niche_quotes Prompt_quotes Fill_quotes Wide_quotes Understanding_quotes Claim_quotes Knowledge_quotes Requirements_quotes Adequate_quotes Evidence_quotes Before_quotes Acceptance_quotes Room_quotes