Calculations Quotes

• I've always said to myself that if a little pocket calculator can do it why shouldn't I?

  Roald Dahl

  Believe In Yourself, Pockets, Littles

  Roald Dahl (1996). “Matilda”, Puffin

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• Seems like people could behave themselves without making a calculation regarding how likely or unlikely they are to kill other people.

  Robert James Thomson

  People, Unlikely, Behave

  "Dr. Gridlock". The Washington Post Live Chat, live.washingtonpost.com. February 8, 2016.

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• I think comedians get too much credit or too much criticism for the style of comedy they do, and they generally do the style of comedy that works for them. [...] There's no kind of shrewd calculation going into the type of standup we all do. It's like David Cross is supposed to be doing the David Cross' type of standup.

  Jim Gaffigan

  Thinking, Style, Comedian

  "Interview: Jim Gaffigan Talks Family, Food And Dad Is Fat". Interview with Samantha Abernethy, chicagoist.com. May 10, 2013.

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• Fear was stronger than the calculation of probabilities.

  George Eliot

  Fear, Stronger, Probability

  George Eliot (2015). “Middlemarch: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)”, p.450, Penguin

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• First, inevitably, the idea, the fantasy, the fairy tale. Then, scientific calculation. Ultimately, fulfillment crowns the dream.

  Konstantin Tsiolkovsky

  Dream, Ideas, Space

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• All that we can hope from these inspirations, which are the fruits of unconscious work, is to obtain points of departure for such calculations. As for the calculations themselves, they must be made in the second period of conscious work which follows the inspiration, and in which the results of the inspiration are verified and the consequences deduced.‎

  Henri Poincare

  Inspiration, Hard Work, Science

  Henri Poincare (2012). “The Value of Science: Essential Writings of Henri Poincare”, p.660, Modern Library

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• It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.

  J. R. R. Tolkien

  Dragons, Planning Ahead, Doe

  J. R. R. Tolkien (1985). “The Hobbit”

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• Death is the surest calculation that can be made.

  Ludwig Buchner

  Made

  Ludwig Büchner (1870). “Force and Matter: Empirico-philosophical Studies, Intelligibly Rendered”, p.35

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• Tactics involve calculations that can tax the human brain, but when you boil them down, they are actually the simplest part of chess and are almost trivial compared to strategy.

  Garry Kasparov

  Brain, Tactics, Chess

  Garry Kasparov (2010). “How Life Imitates Chess: Making the Right Moves, from the Board to the Boardroom”, p.19, Bloomsbury Publishing USA

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• The best companies are able to realize earnings in cash, not through calculations that belong in fantasyland.

  David Hawkins

  Cash, Able, Earning

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• The most common misconception people have had in the past is about my own control and calculation of my career.

  George Michael

  Past, Careers, People

  Source: www.interviewmagazine.com

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• The toughest thing for a homeschooler is the same as for a school teacher - shifting from a weak tea vision of math being grinding calculations to a rich frothy mug of math as an active way of thinking.

  John Golden

  Education, Teacher, School

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• If we can't get back to principles and integrity and it's reduced just the interest of calculation and Machiavellian manipulation, we are in deep trouble.

  Cornel West

  Integrity, Principles, Manipulation

  "Cornel West Reconsiders President Obama". "Talk of the Nation" with Tony Cox, www.npr.org. August 2, 2010.

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• There is always something to upset the most careful of human calculations.

  Ihara Saikaku

  Upset, Careful, Humans

  Saikaku Ihara (1959). “The Japanese Family Storehouse, Or, The Millionaires' Gospel Modernised”, Cambridge University Press

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• The consideration of human suffering is not one which enters into the calculations of primitive man.

  James G. Frazer

  Men, Primitive Man, Suffering

  "The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion". Book by James G. Frazer, 1890.

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• The only equitable manner in my opinion, of judging the character of a man is to examine if there are personal calculations in his conduct; if there are not, we may blame his manner of judging, but we are not the less bound to esteem him.

  Madame de Stael

  Character, Men, Judging

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• God seems to have a delightful way of upsetting the things we have calculated on without taking Him into account. We get into circumstances which were not chosen by God, and suddenly we find we have been calculating without God; He has not entered in as a living factor. The one thing that keeps us from the possibility of worrying is bringing God in as the greatest factor in all our calculations.

  Oswald Chambers

  Worry, Upset, Way

  Oswald Chambers (2011). “My Utmost for His Highest Classic Edition”, p.383, Discovery House

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• The best calculation is the absence of calculation. Once you have attained a certain level of recognition, others generally figure that when you do something, it's for an intelligent reason. So it's really foolish to plot out your movements too carefully in advance. You're better off acting capriciously.

  Pablo Picasso

  Intelligent, Acting, Plot

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• There is a race between the increasing complexity of the systems we build and our ability to develop intellectual tools for understanding their complexity. If the race is won by our tools, then systems will eventually become easier to use and more reliable. If not, they will continue to become harder to use and less reliable for all but a relatively small set of common tasks. Given how hard thinking is, if those intellectual tools are to succeed, they will have to substitute calculation for thought.

  Leslie Lamport

  Learning, Thinking, Race

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• To be spontaneous means not to act out of the past, because out of the past is all cunningness, cleverness, calculation, arithmetic.

  Rajneesh

  Mean, Past, Spontaneity

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• As soon as an Analytical Engine exists, it will necessarily guide the future course of the science. Whenever any result is sought by its aid, the question will then arise — by what course of calculation can these results be arrived at by the machine in the shortest time?

  Charles Babbage

  Machines, Aids, Guides

  Charles Babbage, Philip Morrison, Emily Morrison (1961). “Charles Babbage on the Principles and Development of the Calculator: And Other Seminal Writings”, p.69, Courier Corporation

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• The PS3 is not a game machine. We've never once called it a game machine...With the PS3, our intentions have been to create a machine with supercomputer calculation capabilities for home entertainment.

  Ken Kutaragi

  Home, Games, Machines

  "Kutaragi: PlayStation 3 'is not a games machine'". www.cnet.com. August 14, 2008.

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• The monogram of our national initials, which is the symbol for our monetary unit, the dollar, is almost as frequently conjoined to the figures of an engineer's calculations as are the symbols indicating feet, minutes, pounds, or gallons. ... This statement, while true in regard to the work of all engineers, applies particularly to that of the mechanical engineer.

  Henry R. Towne

  Feet, Dollars, Pounds

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• There is no more common error than to assume that, because prolonged and accurate mathematical calculations have been made, the application of the result to some fact of nature is absolutely certain.

  Alfred North Whitehead

  Math, Errors, Facts

  Alfred North Whitehead (1958). “An Introduction to Mathematics”, p.16, New York : Oxford University Press, 1958 [c1948]

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• If he [Thomas Edison] had a needle to find in a haystack, he would not stop to reason where it was most likely to be, but would proceed at once with the feverish diligence of a bee, to examine straw after straw until he found the object of his search. ... [J]ust a little theory and calculation would have saved him ninety percent of his labor.

  Nikola Tesla

  Science, Ust, Littles

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