Tag: quotes
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“Others have seen what is and asked why. I have seen what could be and asked why not.” – Pablo Picasso Many people might think of Picasso as the man who looked at the world as if it were a kaleidoscope and thought, “Why not make it even more twisted?” But, he’s also the guy…
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“You know my method. It is founded on the observation of trifles.” – Sherlock Holmes in “The Boscombe Valley Mystery” Sherlock Holmes is perhaps the greatest fictional detective of all time and Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous character. It’s probably not too surprising as I find myself quoting Holmes that I tend to analyze everyday…
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“Failure is always an option.” – Adam Savage of MythBusters Is it better to fail miserably and be forgotten, or to fail gloriously and make history? Would it be better to fail in obscurity and fade away into irrelevance? Or, should we seek to fail spectacularly in public view so that others may partake in…
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“You gain more by not being stupid than you do by being smart.” – Phil Birnbaum, baseball analyst, “An Important Life Lesson from Blackjack and Baseball” In an article published on Slate.com, baseball analyst Phil Birnbaum talked about focusing on minimizing bad decisions rather than trying too hard to make the right decisions. Birnbaum continued…
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“David Goodstein, a physicist at Cal Tech, notes that science has been growing nearly exponentially for centuries and that it cannot continue such growth — because then everybody on the planet would have to be a scientist, and then the growth would have to stop.” – Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World At first, this passage…
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“The idea that Mr. Spock could be a cross between a human being and a life-form independently evolved on the planet Vulcan is genetically far less probable than a successful cross of a man and an artichoke.” – Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World Yeah we don’t like to think about that do we? Ironically, Star…
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“Why aren’t we using sports to teach science?” – Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World Sagan was apparently a huge fan of basketball as a way to teach science and mathematics. In his book, The Demon-Haunted World, Sagan’s bit about using basketball to teach probability and logic is classic for him—he’s always looking for sneaky scaffolding.…
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“There are naive questions, tedious questions, ill-phrased questions, questions put after inadequate self-criticism. But every question is a cry to understand the world. There is no such thing as a dumb question.” – Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World Are some questions “dumb”? Maybe in the moment—but even the worst-formed ones come from a mental framework…
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“Learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.” —Leonardo da Vinci I’ve always preferred Frankenstein’s Monster to the Mona Lisa. We’re often told to look to Leonardo da Vinci as the “patron saint” of genius, the man who could paint a masterpiece while dissecting a frog. But da Vinci, excellent as he…
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“You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” – Ansel Adams This axiom from Ansel Adams, one of the 20th century’s most acclaimed photographers, remains one of the most vital distinctions in visual art. It highlights a fundamental split in how we interact with the world, between passive extraction and active construction. To “take” implies…