Charles Francis Richter Quotes

• Only fools, liars, and charlatans predict earthquakes

  Charles Francis Richter

  Liars, Earthquakes, Fool

  26 Copy quote

• Don't wait for extraordinary circumstance to do good; try to use ordinary situations.

  Charles Francis Richter

  Motivation, Procrastination, Waiting

  32 Copy quote

• Nothing is less predictable than the development of an active scientific field.

  Charles Francis Richter

  Science, Development, Fields

  59 Copy quote

• I have a sense of humor; but over the years that sense has developed one blind spot. I can no longer laugh at ignorance or stupidity. Those are our chief enemies, and it is dangerous to make fun of them.

  Charles Francis Richter

  Fun, Ignorance, Years

  24 Copy quote

• The rose does not bloom without thorns. True, but would that the thorns did not outlive the rose.

  Charles Francis Richter

  Rose, Doe, Thorns

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• The most remarkable feature about the magnitude scale was that it worked at all and that it could be extended on a worldwide basis. It was originally envisaged as a rather rough-and-ready procedure by which we could grade earthquakes. We would have been happy if we could have assigned just three categories, large, medium, and small; the point is, we wanted to avoid personal judgments. It actually turned out to be quite a finely tuned scale.

  Charles Francis Richter

  Earthquakes, Three, Judgment

  8 Copy quote

• I was lucky because logarithmic plots are a device of the devil.

  Charles Francis Richter

  Devil, Plot, Lucky

  10 Copy quote

• Remembrance is the only paradise out of which we cannot be driven away.

  Charles Francis Richter

  Remembrance, Paradise, Driven

  7 Copy quote

• I would walk - not run - to the nearest seismograph.

  Charles Francis Richter

  Running, Knowledge, Science

  9 Copy quote

• My main point today is that usually one gets what one expects, but very rarely in the way one expected it.

  Charles Francis Richter

  Today, Way, Expected

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• It is a common remark that men talk most who think least; just as frogs cease their quacking when a light is brought to the water-side.

  Charles Francis Richter

  Men, Thinking, Light

  4 Copy quote

• Spring makes everything young again except man.

  Charles Francis Richter

  Spring, Men, Young

  11 Copy quote

• No joy in nature is so sublimely affecting as the joy of a mother at the good fortune of a child.

  Charles Francis Richter

  Mother, Nature, Children

  4 Copy quote

• There is nothing more beautiful than cheerfulness in an old face, and among country people it is always a sign of a well-regulated life.

  Charles Francis Richter

  Life, Beautiful, Country

  7 Copy quote

• it is good to have measured myself, to recognize my limitations.

  Charles Francis Richter

  Limitation

  4 Copy quote

• As seismologists gained more experience from earthquake records, it became obvious that the problem could not be reduced to a single peak acceleration. In fact, a full frequency of vibrations occurs.

  Charles Francis Richter

  Earthquakes, Records, Vibrations

  Earthquake information bulletin, Volume 12, Issue 1, 1980.

  26 Copy quote

• Refining is inevitable in science when you have made measurements of a phenomenon for a long period of time.

  Charles Francis Richter

  Science, Long, Measurement

  11 Copy quote

• In every area of the world where there is earthquake risk, there are still many buildings of this type; it is very frustrating to try to get rid of them.

  Charles Francis Richter

  Earthquakes, Risk, Trying

  8 Copy quote

• According to Democritus, truth lies at the bottom of a well, the water of which serves as a mirror in which objects may be reflected. I have heard, however, that some philosophers, in seeking for truth, to pay homage to her, have seen their own image and adored it instead.

  Charles Francis Richter

  Lying, Rain, Mirrors

  7 Copy quote

• Most loss of life and property has been due to the collapse of antiquated and unsafe structures, mostly of brick and other masonry. ... There is progress of California toward building new construction according to earthquake-resistant design. We would have less reason to ask for earthquake prediction if this was universal.

  Charles Francis Richter

  Life, Loss, Science

  Earthquake information bulletin, Volume 12, Issue 1, p. 8, 1980.

  8 Copy quote

• If one introduces the concept of energy of an earthquake then that is a theoretically derived quantity.

  Charles Francis Richter

  Earthquakes, Energy, Introducing

  9 Copy quote

• If the assumptions used in calculating energy are changed, then this seriously affects the final result, even though the same body of data might be used.

  Charles Francis Richter

  Data, Body, Might

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• The laboratory routine, which involves a great deal of measurement, filing, and tabulation, is either my lifeline or my chief handicap, I hardly know which.

  Charles Francis Richter

  Knowledge, Science, Routine

  4 Copy quote

• Lately there have been complaints that the use of the magnitude scale is confusing, or at least the reporting of magnitudes in the newspapers 'confuses the public.

  Charles Francis Richter

  Confusion, Confusing, Use

  7 Copy quote

• Magnitude may be compared to the power output in kilowatts of a [radio] broadcasting station; local intensity, on the Mercalli or similar scale, is then comparable to the signal strength noted on a receiver at a given locality. Intensity, like signal strength, will generally fall off with distance from the source; it will also depend on local conditions at the point of observation, and to some extent on the conditions along the path from source to that point.

  Charles Francis Richter

  Distance, Fall, Science

  8 Copy quote

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