OPINIONS AND FACTS

"All great truths begin as blasphemies."

George Bernard Shaw

"People believe and do whatever they want to do, regardless
of the facts presented to them."

Thomas Quackenbush


"You can recognize a pioneer by the arrows in his back."

Beverly Rubik


"New ideas are always criticized - not because an idea lacks
merit, but because it might turn out to be workable, which would
threaten the reputations of many people whose opinions conflict
with it. Some people may even lose their jobs."

Physicist, requested anonymity


"When adults first become conscious of something new, they
usually either attack it or try to escape from it... Attack
includes such mild forms as ridicule, and escape includes merely
putting it out of mind."

W. I. B Beveridge


Insanity is doing the same thing over-and-over again -- but
expecting different results.

Rita Mae Brown

Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections
must be first overcome.

Samuel Johnson

The trouble is, if you don't risk anything, you risk even
more.

Erica Jong


"You cannot by reasoning correct a man of an ill opinion
which by reasoning he never acquired. We can also say that
neither by reasoning, nor by actual demonstration of the facts,
can you convince some people that an opinion which they have
accepted on authority is wrong."

William Bates


It isn't that they can't see the solution. It is that they
can't see the problem.

G. K. Chesterson


There are no hopeless situations. There are only men who
have grown hopeless about them.

Anonymous


Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the
limits of the world.

Arthur Schopenhauer


"There is a principle which is a bar against all information,
which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance -- that
principle is contempt -- prior to investigation."

Herbert Spencer

Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you
can do something about it now.

Alan Lakein


Science is never merely knowledge; it is orderly knowledge.

Josiah Royce



Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately
explained by stupidity.

Hanlon's Razor


"The test of a first-class mind is the ability to hold two
opposing views ... at the same time and still retain the ability
to function."

F. Scott Fitzgerald


"I know that most men ... can seldom accept even the
simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them
to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in
explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to
others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the very
fabric of their lives."

Leo Tolstoy


Men live by their routines; and when these are called into
question, they lose all power of normal judgment. They will
listen to nothing save the echo of their own voices; all else
becomes dangerous thoughts.

Harold Laski


Imagination is more important that knowledge...knowledge is
limited but imagination circles the world. To see with one's own
eyes, to feel and judge without succumbing to the suggestive power
of the fashion of the day, to be able to express what one has seen
and felt in a trim sentence or even a cunningly wrought word...is
that not glorious? When I examine myself and my methods of
thought, I come close to the conclusion that the gift of
imagination has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing
absolute knowledge.

Albert Einstein


To him who is a discover in this field, the products of his
imagination appear so necessary and natural that he regards them,
and would like to have them regarded by others, not as creations
of thought but as given realities.

Albert Einstein


Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little
falls into lazy habits of thinking.

Albert Einstein


"...one of the strongest motives that lead men to art and
science is escape from everyday life with its painful crudity and
hopeless dreariness, from the fetters of one's own ever-shifting
desires. A finely tempered nature longs to escape from the
personal life into the world of objective perception and thought."

Albert Einstein

"It seems that the human mind has first to construct forms
independently before we can find them in things. Kepler's
marvelous achievement is a particularly fine example of the truth
that knowledge cannot spring from experience alone, but only from
the comparison of the inventions of the mind with observed fact."

Albert Einstein

The formulation of a problem is often far more essential than
its solution, which may be a matter of mathematical or
experimental skill. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to
regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative
imagination and marks real advances in science.

Albert Einstein

"Any intelligent fool can make thing bigger, more complex,
and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- as a lot of
courage -- to move in the opposite direction.

Albert Einstein

Science is the attempt to make the chaotic diversity of our
sense-experience correspond to a logically uniform system of
thought.

Albert Einstein


It is the theory that decides what we can observe.

Albert Einstein


Physical concepts are free creations of the human mind, and
are not, however it may seem, uniquely determined by the external
world. In our endeavor to understand reality we are somewhat like
a man trying to understand the mechanism of a closed watch. He
sees the face and the moving hands, even hears it ticking, but he
has no way of opening the case. If he is ingenious he may form
some picture of the mechanism which could be responsible for all
the things he observes, but he may never be quite sure his picture
is the only one which could explain his observations. He will
never be able to compare his picture the real mechanism and he
cannot even imagine the possibility of the meaning of such a
comparison.

Albert Einstein

"The important thing is to not stop questioning. Curiosity
has its own reason for existing".

Albert Einstein


"The skeptic will say, 'It may well be true that this system
of equations is reasonable from a logical standpoint, but this
does not prove that it corresponds to nature.' You are right, dear
skeptic. Experience alone can decide on truth.

- Albert Einstein


"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity;
and I'm not sure about the universe."

Albert Einstein


"My advice to those who wish to learn the art of scientific
prophesy is not to rely on abstract reason, but to decipher the
secret language of Nature from Nature's documents: the facts of
experience."

Max Born



"Atomic Theory and the Description of Nature."

The task of science is both to extend the range of our
experience and to reduce it to order, and this task presents
various aspects inseparable connected with one another. Only by
experience itself do we come to recognize those laws which grant
us a comprehensive view of the diversity of phenomena. As our
knowledge becomes wider, we must even be prepared therefore to
expect alterations in the point-of-view best suited for the
ordering of experience.

Niels Bohr


You cannot cheat nature, however much you may cheat your
fellow man.

Galileo

"In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not
worth the humble reasoning of a single individual."

Galileo

"All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered;
the point is to discover them."

Galileo


In the natural sciences the art of rhetoric is ineffective.

Galileo



People don's care how much you know, until they know how much
you care ... about them.

Zig Ziglar


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 B. Shaw


Odd as it may seem, most people's views about motion are part
of a system of physics that was proposed more than 2,000 years ago
and was experimentally shown to be inadequate at least 1,400 years
ago.

Bernard Cohen

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed
citizens can change the world. Indeed it's the only thing that
ever has.

Margaret Mead


Every creative act involves ... a new innocence of
perception, liberated from the cataract of accepted belief.

Arthur Koestler


Those who fall in love with practice without science are like
a sailor who enters a ship without a helm or compass, and who
never can be certain whither he is going.

Leonardo da Vinci

I start with the premise that the function of leadership is
to produce more leaders, not more followers.

Ralph Nader


It often happens, with regard to new inventions, that one
part of the general public finds them useless, and another part
considers them to be impossible. When it becomes clear that the
possibility and the usefulness can no longer be denied, most agree
that the whole thing was fairly easy to discover and that they
knew about it all along.

Abraham Edelcrantz


"When a thing is new, people say: 'It is not true.' Later,
when its truth became obvious, they say: 'It is not important.'
Finally, when its importance cannot be denied, they say: 'Anyway,
it is not new.'"

William James



The test of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity,
but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there.

John Buchan


Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds
wake in the day to find that it was vanity: But the dreamers of
the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open
eyes, to make it possible.

T. E. Lawrence


It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of
yesterday, is the hope of today, and the reality of tomorrow.

Robert H. Goddard


He that resolves upon any great and good end has, by that
very resolution, scaled the chief barrier to it.

Tryon Edwards


A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its
opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its
opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is
familiar with it.

Max Planck


Part of the art and skill of the engineer and of the
experimental physicist is to create conditions in which certain
events are sure to occur.

Eugene Wigner


Nature does not appear very simple or unified ... [but] we
can at least make out the shape of symmetries, which though
broken, are exact principles governing all phenomena, expressions
of the beauty of the world ...

Steven Weinberg


Knowledge rests not only upon truth alone, but upon error
also.

C. Jung

You know ... everybody is ignorant, only on different
subjects.

Will Rogers


Arguments are to be avoided. They are always vulgar and
often convincing.

Oscar Wilde


It's not what we inherit from our mothers and fathers that
haunts us. It's all kinds of old defunct theories, all sorts of
old defunct beliefs, and things like that. It's not that they
actually live on in us; they are simply lodged there, and we
cannot get rid of them.

Henrick Ibsen


"When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that
something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he
states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong."

- Arthur C. Clarke's First Law


"It's like religion. Heresy [in science] is thought of as a
bad thing, whereas it should be just the opposite."

- Dr. Thomas Gold


"You can get into a habit of thought in which you enjoy
making fun of all those other people who don't see things as
clearly as you do. We have to guard carefully against it."

Carl Sagan



"I ask you, which is the greater threat to science and
mankind, accepting a claim that can have no possible benefit, or
rejecting a claim that can have great benefit?"

- Dr. Edmund Storms


"In science it often happens that scientists say, "You know
that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken," and then
they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old
view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as
often as it should, because scientists are human and change is
sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the
last time something like that happened in politics or religion."

-Carl Sagan


"Science today is locked into paradigms. Every avenue is
blocked by beliefs that are wrong, and if you try to get anything
published by a journal today, you will run against a paradigm and
the editors will turn it down"

- Sir Fred Hoyle


"The pressure for conformity is enormous. I have experienced
it in editors rejection of submitted papers, based on venomous
criticism of anonymous referees. The replacement of impartial
reviewing by censorship will be the death of science."

- Julian Schwinger, physicist


"The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas."

- Linus Pauling


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

- Arthur Schopenhauer


"Theories have four stages of acceptance:

i) this is worthless nonsense;

ii) this is an interesting, but perverse, point of view;

iii) this is true, but quite unimportant;

iv) I always said so.

- J.B.S. Haldane

Oakham's Razor: The philosophic rule that entities should
not be multiplied unnecessarily.


In other words, you should not invent additional explanations
about the experimental data that are more complex, when a simpler
explanation has already been provided. If each experiment
requires its own theory and explanation, then you have not
developed a scientific concept at all.


"A management team distracted by a series of short-term
targets is as pointless as a dieter stepping on a scale every half
hour"

The Google Owner's Manual


"If I want to stop a research program I can always do it by
getting a few experts to sit in on the subject, because they know
right away that it was a fool thing to try in the first place."

- Charles Kettering


"If you restrict the journal to publishing only what pleases
the referees, you end up publishing what is popular, and while it
does make everyone feel more comfortable, you are guaranteed to
miss the occasional breakthrough."

- A. Dessler, Editor, Geophysical Research Letters,


"If the man doesn't believe as we do, we say he is a crank,
and that settles it. I mean, it does nowadays, because now we
can't burn him."

- Mark Twain


"The common idea that scientists reject a theory as soon as
it leads to a contradiction is just not so. When they get
something that works at all they plunge ahead with it and ignore
its weak spots... scientists are just as bad as the rest of the
public in following fads and being influenced by mass enthusiasm."

- Vannevar Bush


"Once a new paradigm takes hold, its acceptance is
extraordinarily rapid and one finds few who claim to have adhered
to a discarded method."

- Dr. B. Lown, inventor of the modern defibrillator


"A man with a new idea is a crank until he succeeds."

- M. Twain


"Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas
are that good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats."

- Howard Aiken


"A great many people think they are thinking when they are
merely rearranging their prejudices."

- William James


"Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible."

- Frank Zappa


GORDIAN KNOT

Intricate; complicated, like the GORDIAN KNOT tied by
Gordius, King of Phrygia. An oracle having declared that he who
should untie the knot should be master of Asia, Alexander the
Great cut it with his sword.

__________________________________


"Science advances funeral by funeral." (Planck?)


"A witty saying proves nothing."

- Voltaire

"There is nothing so absurd that it cannot be believed as
truth if repeated often enough."

-William James

"Wisest is she who knows she does not know." -anon

"The farther the experiment is from theory, the closer it is
to the Nobel Prize."

- Joliet-Curie

"Beware when the great God lets loose a thinker on this
planet. Then all things are at risk. It is as when a
conflagration has broken out in a great city, and no man knows
what is safe, or where it will end."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson


Progress in science is something like climbing a mountain.
Only most mountaineers don't set up a new basecamp every ten feet,
then leap out and attack anyone who tries to climb past them.

One of Bill "huge ego" Beaty's own sayings

For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert."

-anon

"It is a fool's prerogative to utter truths that no one else
will speak."

- Shakespeare


He who can take advice is sometimes superior to him who can
give it.

Karel von Knebel (1744-1834)



******************

THE ESSENCE OF LEADERSHIP

"A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage
to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs
of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by
the quality of his actions and the integrity of his intent. In
the end, leaders are much like eagles ... they don't flock, you
find them one at a time."


DETERMINATION

Some people dream of success ... while others wake up and
work hard at it.


TEAMWORK

Teamwork is the ability to work together towards a common
vision. It is the ability to direct individual accomplishment
towards organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows
common people to attain uncommon results.


CHALLENGES

Small minds are subdued by misfortune, but great minds rise
above them.


QUALITY...

Quality is never an accident, it is always the result of;
high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction, and
skillful execution -- it represents the wise choice of many
alternatives.


THE ESSENCE OF IMAGINATION

What we can easily see is only a small percentage of what is
possible. Imagination is having the vision to see what is just
below the surface, to picture that which is essential, but
invisible to the eye.


THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX

Only those who see the invisible can do the impossible.


EXCELLENCE CAN BE ATTAINED IF YOU...

Care more than others think is wise.
Risk more than others think is safe.
Dream more than others think is practical.
Expect more than others think is possible.


PERSISTENCE

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with
talent.
Genius will not; un-rewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."

Calvin Coolidge


DON'T QUIT

When things go wrong as they sometimes will;
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill;

When the funds are low, and the debts are high;
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh;

When care is pressing you down a bit --
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Success is failure turned inside out;
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt;

And you never can tell how close you are;
It may be near when it seems afar.

So, stick to the fight when you're hardest hit --
It's when things go wrong that you mustn't quit.


WINNER VS. LOSER

The Winner - is always part of the answer.
The Loser - is always part of the problem.

The Winner - always has a program.
The Loser - always has an excuse.

The Winner says, - "Let me do it for you."
The Loser says, - "That's not my job."

The Winner - sees an answer for every problem.
The Loser - sees a problem for every answer.

The Winner - says, "It may be difficult, but it's possible."
The Loser - says, "It may be possible, but it's too difficult."


EXCELLENCE...

The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to
their commitment to excellence -- regardless of their chosen field
of endeavor.

Vincent Lombardi

SUCCESS...

"The difference between a successful person and others is,
not a lack of strength,
not a lack of knowledge,
but rather in a lack of will."

Vincent Lombardi



GOALS

"Far away in the sunshine on the mountainside, are my highest
aspirations. I might not reach them, but I can look up and see
their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead."


THE COURAGE TO SUCCEED

"The sea is dangerous and its storms terrible, but these
obstacles have never been sufficient reason to remain ashore ...
unlike the mediocre, intrepid spirits seek victory over those
things that seem impossible ... it is with an iron will that they
embark on the most daring of all endeavors ... to meet the
shadowy future without fear and conquer the unknown."

Ferdinand Magellan (c 1520)


THE ESSENCE OF ACHIEVEMENT

"The credit belongs to those people who are actually in the
arena ... who know the great enthusiasms, the great devotions to
a worthy cause, who at best, know the triumph of high achievement;
and who, at worst, fail while daring greatly ... so that their
place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know
neither victory nor defeat."

Theodore Roosevelt


FOUNDATION OF EXCELLENCE

"Tentative efforts lead to tentative outcomes. Therefore
give yourself fully to your endeavors. Decide to construct your
character through excellent actions and determine to pay the price
of a worthy goal. The trials you encounter will introduce you to
your strengths. Remain steadfast ... and one day you will build
something that endures; something worthy of your potential."

Epictetus, Philosopher, 55-135 AD


EXCELLENCE

"Excellence is the result of caring more than others think is
wise; risking more than others think is safe, dreaming more than
others think is practical, and expecting more than others think is
possible."