Technology
Thomas A. Edison on Failure
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Thomas A. Edison, (attributed) US inventor (1847 – 1931)
Adam Osborne on Computers
“People think computers will keep them from making mistakes. They’re wrong. With computers you make mistakes faster.” Adam Osborne
Elbert Hubbard on Work & Technology
“One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man.” Elbert Hubbard
Edsger Dijkstra on Computers
“Computer science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.” Edsger Dijkstra
Rita Mae Brown on Computer Dating
“Computer dating is fine, if you’re a computer.” Rita Mae Brown US author and social activist
Albert Einstein on Solving Problems
“The world will not evolve past its current state of crisis by using the same thinking that created the situation.” Albert Einstein
Hodding Carter on Television
“Television news is like a lightning flash. It makes a loud noise, lights up everything around it, leaves everything else in darkness and then is suddenly gone.” Hodding Carter
Robert X. Cringely on Technology
“If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.” Robert X. Cringely, InfoWorld magazine
Albert Einstein on Computers
“Computers are incredibly fast, accurate, and stupid; humans are incredibly slow, inaccurate and brilliant; together they are powerful beyond imagination.” Albert Einstein
Arthur C. Clarke on Technology
“At the present rate of progress, it is almost impossible to imagine any technical feat that cannot be achieved – if it can be achieved at all – within the next few hundred years.” Arthur C. Clarke, 1983 English physicist & science fiction author (1917 – 2008)
Stephen Hawking on Computers
“I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. We’ve created life in our own image.” Stephen Hawking
Arthur C. Clarke on Technology
“The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.” Arthur C. Clarke, “Technology and the Future” (Clarke’s second law) English physicist & science fiction author (1917 – 2008)
Sir William Preece on the Telephone
“The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys.” Sir William Preece Chief engineer of the British Post Office, 1876
Robert Heinlein on Progress
“Progress isn’t made by early risers. It’s made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.” Robert Heinlein, Time Enough For Love US science fiction author (1907 – 1988)
Steve Jobs on Innovation
“Sometimes when you innovate, you make mistakes. It is best to admit them quickly, and get on with improving your other innovations.” Steve Jobs
John F. Kennedy on Power
“The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty, and all forms of human life.” John F. Kennedy
Arthur C. Clarke on Technology
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Arthur C. Clarke English physicist & science fiction author (1917 – 2008)
Bill Gates on Computers
“I think it’s fair to say that personal computers have become the most empowering tool we’ve ever created. They’re tools of communication, they’re tools of creativity, and they can be shaped by their user.” Bill Gates
Alan Turing on Technology
“Machines take me by surprise with great frequency.” Alan Turing English logician & mathematician (1912 – 1954)
Thomas A. Edison on Opportunity
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” Thomas A. Edison US inventor (1847 – 1931)
Clive James on Technology
“It is only when they go wrong that machines remind you how powerful they are.” Clive James
Thomas A. Edison
“To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.” Thomas A. Edison US inventor (1847 – 1931)
Edward Abbey on Tyranny
“No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets.” Edward Abbey US radical environmentalist (1927 – 1989)
Gertrude Stein on Information
“Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense.” Gertrude Stein US author in France (1874 – 1946)
Isaac Asimov on Computers
“Part of the inhumanity of the computer is that, once it is competently programmed and working smoothly, it is completely honest.” Isaac Asimov US science fiction novelist & scholar (1920 – 1992)
Tim Berners-Lee on Computers
“Anyone who has lost track of time when using a computer knows the propensity to dream, the urge to make dreams come true and the tendency to miss lunch.” Tim Berners-Lee
R. Buckminster Fuller on Technology
“Humanity is acquiring all the right technology for all the wrong reasons.” R. Buckminster Fuller US architect & engineer (1895 – 1983)
John C. Dvorak on Computers and Business
“In all large corporations, there is a pervasive fear that someone, somewhere is having fun with a computer on company time. Networks help alleviate that fear.” John C. Dvorak
Neil Armstrong’s Famous Quote
“This is one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” Neil Armstrong (1930 – 2012) Apollo 11 astronaut, first man on the Moon.
Carl Sagan on Intelligence
“The fact that some geniuses were laughed at does not imply that all who are laughed at are geniuses. They laughed at Columbus, they laughed at Fulton, they laughed at the Wright brothers. But they also laughed at Bozo the Clown.” Carl Sagan US astronomer & popularizer of astronomy (1934 – 1996)
Isaac Newton on Science
“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Isaac Newton, Letter to Robert Hooke, February 5, 1675 English mathematician & physicist (1642 – 1727)
Isaac Asimov on Computers
“I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them.” Isaac Asimov
Frank Lloyd Wright on Technology
“If it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push-button finger.” Frank Lloyd Wright
Freeman Dyson on Technology
“Technology is a gift of God. After the gift of life it is perhaps the greatest of God’s gifts. It is the mother of civilizations, of arts and of sciences.” Freeman Dyson
Putt’s Law
“Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage, and those who manage what they do not understand.” Archibald Putt
Esther Dyson on Internet
“The Internet is like alcohol in some sense. It accentuates what you would do anyway. If you want to be a loner, you can be more alone. If you want to connect, it makes it easier to connect.” Esther Dyson, Interview in Time Magazine, October 2005
Arthur C. Clarke on Science Fiction
“Politicians should read science fiction, not westerns and detective stories.” Arthur C. Clarke English physicist & science fiction author (1917 – 2008)
Andy Rooney on Computers
“Computers make it easier to do a lot of things, but most of the things they make it easier to do don’t need to be done.” Andy Rooney US news commentator (1919 – )
De La Lastra’s Law
“After the last of 16 mounting screws has been removed from an access cover, it will be discovered that the wrong access cover has been removed.” De La Lastra’s Law
Henry David Thoreau on Flying
“Thank God men cannot as yet fly and lay waste the sky as well as the earth!” Henry David Thoreau US Transcendentalist author (1817 – 1862)
William Gibson on Futurism
“The future is here. It’s just not widely distributed yet.” William Gibson US science fiction novelist in Canada (1948 – )
Bill Gates on Technology
“The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.” Bill Gates
Omar N. Bradley on Technology and Wisdom
“If we continue to develop our technology without wisdom or prudence, our servant may prove to be our executioner.” Omar N. Bradley
Albert Einstein on War
“The release of atomic energy has not created a new problem. It has merely made more urgent the necessity of solving an existing one.” Albert Einstein US (German-born) physicist (1879 – 1955)
Albert Einstein on Technology & Humanity
“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.” Albert Einstein
James Magary on Computers
“Computers can figure out all kinds of problems, except the things in the world that just don’t add up.” James Magary
Jim Clark on the Internet
“The Internet is not just one thing, it’s a collection of things – of numerous communications networks that all speak the same digital language.” Jim Clark