Wisdom

Data is a precious thing and will last longer than the systems themselves.

We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.

Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine.

It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission.

Humans are allergic to change. They love to say, 'We've always done it this way.' I try to fight that. That's why I have a clock on my wall that runs counter-clockwise.

The most dangerous phrase in the language is, 'We've always done it this way.'

That it's as great a folly to be an optimist as to be a pessimist.

If you can't give me poetry, can't you give me poetical science?

The Analytical Engine has no pretensions to originate anything. It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform. It can follow analysis, but it has no power of anticipating any analytical relations or truths.

The more I study, the more insatiable do I feel my genius for it to be.

That brain of mine is something more than merely mortal, as time will show.

You just hold your head high and keep those fists down. No matter what anybody says to you, don't you let 'em get your goat. Try fighting with your head for a change.

People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for.

The book to read is not the one that thinks for you, but the one which makes you think.

You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.

It seems to me that trying to live without friends is like milking a bear to get cream for your morning coffee. It is a whole lot of trouble, and then not worth much after you get it.

Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.

As long as you are going to be thinking anyway, think big.

Part of being a winner is knowing when enough is enough.

The point is that you can't be too greedy.