Favorite Quotes 19

[BJCooperIT]

Many of us here at TT have quotes in our signature lines. Some funny, some profound (like CC's) and some personal. The problem I have is that I do not have the time, or inclination, to change the quote in my signature on a regular basis. That being said, I would like to post another of my favorite quotes:

Accomplishing the impossible means only that the boss will add it to your regular duties.
Doug Larson (1902-1981), English Racer

So true in this business. Your favorites?

[sup]Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.[/sup][sup] ~George Bernard Shaw[/sup]
Consultant Developer/Analyst Oracle, Forms, Reports & PL/SQL (Windows)
My website: www.EmuProductsPlus.com

 

[JustinTMI]

If knowledge is power, consider me a weapon of mass destruction" Quote - JustinTMI

That is my personal favourite!

-Justin

 

[philhege]

One that hung on my wall for years:

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
- Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

Phil Hegedusich
Senior Programmer/Analyst
IIMAK

http://www.iimak.com

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I'll have the roast duck with the mango salsa.

 

[donbott]

So many choices. For now I'll post one from Doonsbury:

Even in Utopia there's myopia.

If I come up with something with more pith I'll re-post

DonBott

Founder
Eunich and Sons Inc.

 

[Ed2020]

A couple from two people I admire greatly: Homer Simpson and Albert Einstein...

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler - Einstein.

If something's hard to do, then it's not worth doing - Simpson.

Ed Metcalfe.

Please do not feed the trolls.....

 

[2ffat]

You think you got problems? I've got so many worries that if something happened today, I wouldn't have time to worry about it for three weeks

From a sign hanging up in my living room. I didn't think it was appropriate for TT, though.


James P. Cottingham
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[sup]I'm number 1,229!
I'm number 1,229![/sup]

 

[CajunCenturion]

Perception may be ninety percent of reality, but perception often bears little resemblance to truth.

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As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[flapeyre]

The probability of life originating from accident is comparable to the probability of the unabridged dictionary resulting from an explosion in a printing shop.

Feles mala! Cur cista non uteris? Stramentum novum in ea posui!

 

[wmichael]

If you are going to be dumb, you have got to be tough."

Not sure the original source of this, but my father often shared this pearl with me in my teenage years.

~wmichael

"small change can often be found under seat cushions

 

[Welshbird]

You can only do what you can do.

And you can't do no more.

There you are

It's become a company saying where ever I have worked.

(It really needs a broad welsh accent!)

Fee

The question should be [red]Is it worth trying to do?[/red] not [blue] Can it be done?[/blue]

 

[AnotherHiggins]

I'm not sure of the source, but I very much like

All generalizations are false including this one

Fee, you reminded me of one of my grandmother's pearls:

It is what it is and it ain't no isser

[tt]_____
[blue]-John[/blue][/tt]
[tab][red]The plural of anecdote is not data[/red]

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[hilfy]

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

-Dell

A computer only does what you actually told it to do - not what you thought you told it to do.

 

[Trevoke]

PAUL
Shield practice? Gurney... we had practice -- this morning..... I'm not in the mood.

GURNEY
(angered)
Not in the mood?! Mood's a thing for cattle and love play... not fighting.

PAUL
I'm sorry Gurney.

GURNEY
Not sorry enough.

"That time in Seattle... was a nightmare. I came out of it dead broke, without a house, without anything except a girlfriend and a knowledge of UNIX."
"Well, that's something," Avi says. "Normally those two are mutually exclusive."
-- Neal Stephenson, "Cryptonomicon"

 

[TheRambler]

This is something I read many years ago in Foucault's Pendulum and I still remember.

Someone—Rubenstein perhaps—once said, when asked if he believed in God: “Oh, no, I believe…in something much bigger.”

 

[sleipnir214]

There's the hoary old trio:

[tt]To do is to be [/tt]-- Socrates
[tt]To be is to do [/tt]-- Plato
[tt]Doo bee doo bee doo [/tt]-- Sinatra



But more seriously, I like:

[tt]Be the change you want to see in your world[/tt] -- M.K. Ghandi



In general, I live my life by the motto:

[tt]It is always easier to get forgiveness than permission[/tt] -- Unknown


And since hilfy beat me to the punch quoting Arthur C. Clarke's Third Law of Technology, I'll list all three:

[tt]1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, then he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, then he is very probably wrong.

2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them.

3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.[/tt]






Want the best answers? Ask the best questions! TANSTAAFL!

 

[Grenage]

It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt

Was that Abraham Lincoln?


Carlsberg don't run I.T departments, but if they did they'd probably be more fun.

 

[AnotherHiggins]

Grenage: I was thinking that it was Mark Twain, but I did a little google to be sure... I found it attributed mostly to Lincoln (but I can't find a source that tells me when or where he said it), but also attributed to others as well.

Over at the Quotations Page Forums, I found a thread asking who said it. Following is one of the responses (granted, as far as I know this is just a random guy responding, but he is a moderator on that forum and I have independently verified that the quote has been attributed to Lincoln, Twain and Samuel Johnson):

It's been attributed to many persons, but seems to have its roots in the Bible:

It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt . -- George Eliot
Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.-- Abraham Lincoln (also attr. Confucius)
It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.-- Mark Twain (1835-1910)
Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding. -- Bible, 'Proverbs' 17:28.

There are no citations for Lincoln or Twain. I have my doubts about Confucius.

(Full thread here)

[tt]_____
[blue]-John[/blue][/tt]
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[Grenage]

Ah thank you for that, John. I suppose it must be difficult to pinpoint the source of many saying, unless they were noted in a particular speech or interview.


Carlsberg don't run I.T departments, but if they did they'd probably be more fun.

 

[Ladyazh]

donbott,
are you really a Founder of
Eunich and Sons Inc.?

I love what you guys are doing. Thanks for your business.
WOW! What a relieve.

 

[johnherman]

In addition to my current pearl, I also like:

"Sometimes the grass is greener on the other side because there is more manure there" - original as far as I know.

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." - George Bernard Shaw

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The trouble with doing something right the first time is that nobody appreciates how difficult it was - Steven Wright