Civil Engineer Quotes

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  Engineers like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily available, they will create their own problems.

  Scott Adams

  Anger, Engineering, Problem

  Scott Adams (1996). “The Dilbert principle: a cubicle's-eye view of bosses, meetings, management fads & other workplace afflictions”

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• My father, who had previously been a civil engineer, died in the great influenza epidemic of 1918.

  James Rainwater

  Father, Epidemics, Influenza

  85 Copy quote

• A good scientist is a person with original ideas. A good engineer is a person who makes a design that works with as few original ideas as possible. There are no prima donnas in engineering.

  Freeman Dyson

  Science, Ideas, Engineering

  "Disturbing the Universe". Book by Freeman Dyson, 1979.

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• We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.

  Winston Churchill

  Leadership, Engineering, Shapes

  "The Best-laid Plans: How Government Planning Harms Your Quality of Life, Your Pocketbook, and Your Future". Book by Randal O'Toole, p. 161, 2007.

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• Take the best that exists and make it better.

  Henry Royce

  Engineering, Rolls Royce, Engineers

  "Transforming the Organization". P. 85. Book by Francis J. Gouillart, 1996.

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• Scientists investigate that which already is; Engineers create that which has never been.

  Albert Einstein

  Engineering, Design, Scientist

  114 Copy quote

• Scientists dream about doing great things. Engineers do them.

  James A. Michener

  Dream, Science, Technology

  James A. Michener (2014). “Space: A Novel”, p.537, Dial Press

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• It is a great profession. There is the fascination of watching a figment of the imagination emerge through the aid of science to a plan on paper. Then it moves to realization in stone or metal or energy. Then it brings jobs and homes to men. Then it elevates the standards of living and adds to the comforts of life. That is the engineer's high privilege.

  Herbert Hoover

  Jobs, Moving, Home

  Herbert Hoover (1951). “The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover: Years of adventure, 1874-1920”

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• Engineers are not superhuman. They make mistakes in their assumptions, in their calculations, in their conclusions. That they make mistakes is forgivable; that they catch them is imperative. Thus it is the essence of modern engineering not only to be able to check one's own work but also to have one's work checked and to be able to check the work of others.

  Henry Petroski

  Mistake, Engineering, Essence

  55 Copy quote

• Go for civil engineering, because civil engineering is the branch of engineering which teaches you the most about managing people. Managing people is a skill which is very, very useful and applies almost regardless of what you do.

  John Harvey-Jones

  Engineering, Skills, People

  39 Copy quote

• Engineering is the art of directing the great sources of power in nature for the use and convenience of man.

  Thomas Tredgold

  Art, Men, Engineering

  The Times, London, June 30, 1828.

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• The human body was designed by a civil engineer. Who else would run a toxic waste pipeline through a recreational area ?

  Robin Williams

  Running, Science, Toxic Waste

  25 Copy quote

• Architects and engineers are among the most fortunate of men since they build their own monuments with public consent, public approval and often public money.

  John Prebble

  Men, Engineering, Approval

  John Prebble (1956). “Disaster at Dundee”

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• Strive for perfection in everything you do.

  Henry Royce

  Engineering, Perfection, Strive

  "I Know You Got Soul". Rolls-Royce, p. 19. Book by Jeremy Clarkson, 2004.

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• An optimist will tell you the glass is half-full; the pessimist, half-empty; and the engineer will tell you the glass is twice the size it needs to be.

  Oscar Wilde

  Glasses, Optimism, Needs

  128 Copy quote

• Engineering problems are under-defined, there are many solutions, good, bad and indifferent. The art is to arrive at a good solution. This is a creative activity, involving imagination, intuition and deliberate choice.

  Ove Arup

  Art, Engineering, Imagination

  39 Copy quote

• The great liability of the engineer compared to men of other professions is that his works are out in the open where all can see them. His acts, step by step, are in hard substance. He cannot bury his mistakes in the grave like the doctors. He cannot argue them into thin air or blame the judge like the lawyers. He cannot, like the architects, cover his failures with trees and vines. He cannot, like the politicians, screen his shortcomings by blaming his opponents and hope the people will forget. The engineer simply cannot deny he did it. If his works do not work, he is damned.

  Herbert Hoover

  Mistake, Men, Doctors

  Herbert Hoover (1952). “Memoirs: Years of adventure, 1874-1920”

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• The major difference between a thing that might go wrong and a thing that cannot possibly go wrong is that when a thing that cannot possibly go wrong goes wrong it usually turns out to be impossible to get at and repair.

  Douglas Adams

  Funny, Engineering, Differences

  Douglas Adams (2012). “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Trilogy of Five”, p.691, Pan Macmillan

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• Aeroplanes are not designed by science, but by art in spite of some pretence and humbug to the contrary. I do not mean to suggest that engineering can do without science, on the contrary, it stands on scientific foundations, but there is a big gap between scientific research and the engineering product which has to be bridged by the art of the engineer.

  Walter Guido Vincenti

  Art, Mean, Engineering

  70 Copy quote

• Improvement makes strait roads, but the crooked roads without Improvement, are roads of Genius.

  William Blake

  Engineering, Genius, Improvement

  William Blake (2008). “The Complete Poetry and Prose of William Blake”, p.38, Univ of California Press

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• Normal people... believe that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Engineers believe that if it ain't broke, it doesn't have enough features yet.

  Scott Adams

  Believe, People, Normal

  Scott Adams (1996). “The Dilbert principle: a cubicle's-eye view of bosses, meetings, management fads & other workplace afflictions”

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• A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.

  Douglas Adams

  Inspirational, Funny, Fake People

  Douglas Adams (2012). “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Trilogy of Five”, p.690, Pan Macmillan

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• There can be little doubt that in many ways the story of bridge building is the story of civilisation. By it we can readily measure an important part of a people's progress.

  Franklin D. Roosevelt

  Bridges, People, Doubt

  "Kurilpa Bridge". Book by Haig Beck, p. 72, 2012.

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• The story of civilization is, in a sense, the story of engineering-that long and arduous struggle to make the forces of nature work for man's good.

  L. Sprague de Camp

  Struggle, Men, Engineering

  L. Sprague de Camp (1963). “The Ancient Engineers”

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• I did graduate with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering in 1948.

  Daniel J. Evans

  Inspirational, Funny, Graduation

  90 Copy quote