-Caldwell O'Keefe

 

Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the men of old; seek what they sought.

-Matsuo Basho

 

When one admits that nothing is certain one must, I think, also admit that some things are much more nearly certain than others. It is much more nearly certain that we are assembled here tonight than it is that this or that political party is in the right. Certainly there are degrees of certainty, and one should be very careful to emphasize that fact, because otherwise one is landed in an utter skepticism, and complete skepticism would, of course, be totally barren and completely useless.

-Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970)

 

The secret of success is constancy of purpose.

-Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)

 

Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled.

-Michael Crichton (1942 - ), Caltech Michelin Lecture, January 17, 2003

 

Management by objectives works if you first think through your objectives. Ninety percent of the time you haven't.

-Peter Drucker (1909 - 2005)

 

The course of life is unpredictable, no one can write his autobiography in advance.

-Abraham J. Heschel

 

The game of life is the game of boomerangs. Our thoughts, deeds and words return to us sooner or later, with astounding accuracy.

-Florence Shinn

 

A certain amount of opposition is a great help to a man; it is what he wants and must have to be good for anything. Hardship and opposition are the native soil of manhood and self-reliance.

-John Neal

 

Results! Why, man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won't work.

-Thomas A. Edison (1847 - 1931)

 

A danger foreseen is half-avoided.

-Cheyenne Proverb

 

Not to be absolutely certain is, I think, one of the essential things in rationality.

-Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970)

 

An opinion should be the result of thought, not a substitute for it.

-Jef Mallett, Frazz

 

Hell, there are no rules here-- we're trying to accomplish something.

-Thomas A. Edison (1847 - 1931)

 

In a mad world only the mad are sane.

-Akira Kurosawa (1910 - 1998)

 

We are continually faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems.

-John W. Gardner (1912 - 2002)

 

This is patently absurd; but whoever wishes to become a philosopher must learn not to be frightened by absurdities.

-Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970)

 

A process cannot be understood by stopping it. Understanding must move with the flow of the process, must join it and flow with it.

-Frank Herbert (1920 - 1986), Dune (First Law of Mentat)

 

Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous patience.

-Hyman Rickover (1900 - 1986)

 

Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how…We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark.

-Agnes de Mille (1909 - 1993)

 

Dive into the sea of thought, and find there pearls beyond price.

-Moses Ibn Ezra, Shirat Yisrael

 

I'm not afraid of facts, I welcome facts but a congeries of facts is not equivalent to an idea. This is the essential fallacy of the so-called "scientific" mind. People who mistake facts for ideas are incomplete thinkers; they are gossips.

-Cynthia Ozick

 

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.

-Scott Adams (1957 - ), 'The Dilbert Principle'

 

It is quality rather than quantity that matters.

-Seneca (5 BC - 65 AD), Epistles

 

I find that a great part of the information I have was acquired by looking up something and finding something else on the way.

-Franklin P. Adams (1881 - 1960)

 

To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.

-Thomas A. Edison (1847 - 1931)

 

To become aware of the possibility of the search is to be onto something.

-Walker Percy

 

It's kind of fun to do the impossible.

-Walt Disney (1901 - 1966)

 

The pain of making the necessary sacrifices always hurts more than you think it's going to. I know. It sucks. That being said, doing something seriously creative is one of the most amazing experiences one can have, in this or any other lifetime. If you can pull it off, it's worth it. Even if you don't end up pulling it off, you'll learn many incredible, magical, valuable things. It's NOT doing it when you know you full well you HAD the opportunity- that hurts FAR more than any failure.

-Hugh Macleod, How To Be Creative: 12. If you accept the pain, it cannot hurt you

 

Trust your instinct to the end, though you can render no reason.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

 

General principles should not be based on exceptional cases.

-Robert J. Sawyer (1960 - ), "Calculating God", 2000

 

The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not understand.

-Frank Herbert (1920 - 1986)

 

If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere.

-Frank A. Clark

 

What are the facts? Again and again and again - what are the facts? Shun wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget what "the stars foretell", avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the unguessable "verdict of history" - what are the facts, and to how many decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your single clue. Get the facts!

-Excerpt from the notebooks of Lazarus Long, from Robert Heinlein's "Time Enough for Love"

 

Knowledge is expensive.

-Hanna Gray, current president of the University of Chicago

 

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.

-Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001)

 

A well cultivated mind is made up of all the minds of preceding ages; it is only the one single mind educated by all previous time.

-Fontenelle

 

Your theory is crazy, but it's not crazy enough to be true.

-Niels Bohr (1885 - 1962), to a young physicist

 

Creative work is play. It is free speculation using materials of one's chosen form.

-Stephen Nachmanovitch

 

To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.

-Joseph Chilton Pearce

 

In science the credit goes to the man who convinces the world, not to the man to whom the idea first occurs.

-Richard Osler

 

Someone has described science as an orderly arrangement of what, at the moment, seems to be facts.

-Author Unknown

 

Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain.

-J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets, 1999

 

Do not always assume the other fellow has intelligence equal to yours. He may have more.

-Terry Thomas

 

The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.

-William James (1842 - 1910)

 

Detail makes the difference between boring and terrific writing. It’s the difference between a pencil sketch and a lush oil painting. As a writer, words are your paint. Use all the colors.

-Rhys Alexander, Writing Gooder, 12-09-05

 

Anything's possible if you've got enough nerve.

-J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

 

Things are never as bad as they seem.

-Harper Lee (1926 - ), spoken by character Miss Maudie, To Kill A Mockingbird

 

Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody.

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882)

 

Our greatest foes, and whom we must chiefly combat, are within.

-Miguel de Cervantes (1547 - 1616)

 

The universe is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper.

-Eden Phillpotts

 

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.

-Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973)

 

In this age, which believes that there is a short cut to everything, the greatest lesson to be learned is that the most difficult way is, in the long run, the easiest.

-Henry Miller (1891 - 1980), The Books in My Life

 

If you are not criticized, you may not be doing much.

-Donald H. Rumsfeld (1932 - ), US Secretary of Defense

 

Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.

-Robert Noyce, Article, interview in a magazine

 

If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world ablaze.

-St. Catherine of Sienna

 

The fundamental qualities for good execution of a plan is first; intelligence; then discernment and judgment, which enable one to recognize the best method as to attain it; the singleness of purpose; and, lastly, what is most essential of all, will-stubborn will.

-Ferdinand Foch (1851 - 1929)

 

Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, "Where have I gone wrong?"
Then a voice says to me, "This is going to take more than one night."

-Charles M. Schulz (1922 - 2000), Charlie Brown in "Peanuts"

 

How ridiculous and unrealistic is the man who is astonished at anything that happens in life.

-Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (121 AD - 180 AD)

 

It is your attitude at the beginning of a task that determines success or failure.

-Corrine Dewlow

 

A coupla months in the laboratory can save a coupla hours in the library.

-Westheimer's Discovery

 

The wise learn from the experience of others, and the creative know how to make a crumb of experience go a long way.

-Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)

 

One hundred thousand lemmings can't be wrong.

-Graffito, as given in The Penguin Dictionary of Modern Quotations, 2nd ed.

 

Before beginning a Hunt, it is wise to ask someone what you are looking for before you begin looking for it.

-Pooh's Little Instruction Book, inspired by A. A. Milne

 

There is no surer way to misread any document than to read it literally. As nearly as we can, we must put ourselves in the place of those who uttered the words, and try to divine how they would have dealt with the unforeseen situation; and, evidence of what they would have done, they are by no means final.

-Learned Hand

 

When a thing ceases to be a subject of controversy, it ceases to be a subject of interest.

-William Hazlitt (1778 - 1830)

 

The wise man doesn't give the right answers, he poses the right questions.

-Claude Levi-Strauss

 

He who endeavors to serve, to benefit, and improve the world, is like a swimmer, who struggles against a rapid current, in a river lashed into angry waves by the winds. Often they roar over his head, often they beat him back and baffle him. Most men yield to the stress of the current... Only here and there the stout, strong heart and vigorous arms struggle on toward ultimate success.

-Albert Pike

 

No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money.

-Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784)

 

Be not astonished at new ideas; for it is well known to you that a thing does not therefore cease to be true because it is not accepted by many.

-Spinoza

 

In your thirst for knowledge, be sure not to drown in all the information.

-Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book

 

Sometimes it is more important to discover what one cannot do, than what one can do.

-Lin Yutang

 

Practice is the best of all instructors.

-Publilius Syrus (~100 BC)

 

It may not be that the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong - but that is the way to bet.

-Damon Runyon

 

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.

-Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 - 1860)

 

The great thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving.

-Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841 - 1935)

 

We rarely think people have good sense unless they agree with us.

-Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613 - 1680), Maximes (1678)

 

Whoever does not love his work cannot hope that it will please others.

-Unknown

 

You can judge your age by the amount of pain you feel when you come in contact with a new idea

-Author Unknown

 

What is laid down, ordered, factual is never enough to embrace the whole truth: life always spills over the rim of every cup.

-Boris Pasternak (1890 - 1960)

 

Remember, nothing that's good works by itself, just to please you. You have to make the damn thing work.

-Thomas A. Edison (1847 - 1931)

 

Knowledge, if it does not determine action, is dead to us.

-Plotinus (205 AD - 270 AD)

 

People wish to be settled. It is only as far as they are unsettled that there is any hope for them.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

 

Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.

-Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

 

When nothing is sure, everything is possible.

-Margaret Drabble

 

Only as you do know yourself can your brain serve you as a sharp and efficient tool. Know your own failings, passions, and prejudices so you can separate them from what you see.

-Bernard M. Baruch (1870 - 1965)

 

With enough courage, you can do without a reputation.

-Clark Gable, Gone With the Wind

 

When solving problems, dig at the roots instead of just hacking at the leaves.

-Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book

 

Science may set limits to knowledge, but should not set limits to imagination.

-Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970)

 

Do not hover always on the surface of things, nor take up suddenly, with mere appearances; but penetrate into the depth of matters, as far as your time and circumstances allow, especially in those things which relate to your profession.

-Isaac Watts

 

Nothing astonishes men so much as common sense and plain dealing. 

-Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 - 1882)

 

A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus: 1. What am I trying to say? 2. What words will express it? 3. What image or idiom will make it clearer? 4. Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?

-George Orwell (1903 - 1950), "Politics and the English Language", 1946

 

[my favorite - JLJ]
A facility for quotation covers the absence of original thought.

-Lord Peter Wimsey, "Gaudy Night"

 

We must dare to think "unthinkable" thoughts. We must learn to explore all the options and possibilities that confront us in a complex and rapidly changing world. We must learn to welcome and not to fear the voices of dissent. We must dare to think about "unthinkable things" because when things become unthinkable, thinking stops and action becomes mindless.

-J. William Fulbright (1905 - ), March 27, 1964

 

Human nature constitutes a part of the evidence in every case.

-Elisha Potter

 

Listen to your intuition. It will tell you everything you need to know.

-Anthony J. D'Angelo, The College Blue Book

 

The sciences do not try to explain, they hardly even try to interpret, they mainly make models. By a model is meant a mathematical construct which, with the addition of certain verbal interpretations, describes observed phenomena. The justification of such a mathematical construct is solely and precisely that it is expected to work.

-Johann Von Neumann (1903 - 1957)

 

Acceptance is not submission; it is acknowledgment of the facts of a situation. Then deciding what you're going to do about it.

-Kathleen Casey Theisen

 

Put your whole self into it, and you will find your true voice. Hold back and you won't. It's that simple.

-Hugh Macleod, How To Be Creative: 25. You have to find your own schtick., 08-22-04

 

The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones, which ramify, for those brought up as most of us have been, into every corner of our minds.

-John Maynard Keynes (1883 - 1946), preface to The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money.

 

What we have to do is to be forever curiously testing new opinions and courting new impressions.

-Walter Pater (1839 - 1894), 1873

 

The wise man avoids evil by anticipating it.

-Publilius Syrus (~100 BC)

 

To disagree with three-fourths of the British public is one of the first requisites of sanity.

-Oscar Wilde (1854 - 1900)

 

The secret to success is to know something nobody else knows.

-Aristotle Onassis

 

Sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.

-Lewis Carroll (1832 - 1898), Alice in Wonderland

 

This isn't right. This isn't even wrong.

-Wolfgang Pauli (1900 - 1958), on a paper submitted by a physicist colleague

 

I imagine good teaching as a circle of earnest people sitting down to ask each other meaningful questions. I don't see it as the handing down of answers.

-Alice Walker (1944 - ), Meridian

 

Seize the day, put no trust in the morrow! [Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.]

-Horace (65 BC - 8 BC), Odes

 

Knowing what you cannot do is more important than knowing what you can do.

-Lucille Ball (1911 - 1989)

 

The only means of strengthening one's intelligence is to make up one's mind about nothing-- to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts.

-John Keats (1795 - 1821)

 

Until you can measure something and express it in numbers, you have only the beginning of understanding.

-Lord Kelvin

 

What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence, a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it.

-Herbert Simon

 

Chess is a foolish expedient for making idle people believe they are doing something very clever when they are only wasting their time.

-George Bernard Shaw

 

If you have a difficult task, give it to a lazy person; they will find an easier way to do it.

-Hlade's Law.

 

Statistics are no substitute for judgment.

-Henry Clay.

 

Science is merely an extremely powerful method of winnowing what's true from what feels good.

-Carl Sagan.

 

If you can't describe what you are doing as a process, you don't know what you're doing.

-W. Edwards Deming (1900 - 1993)