Engineering Inspirational Quotes

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

  Albert Einstein

  Engineering, Design, Scientist

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• Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.

  Winston Churchill

  Inspirational, Motivational, Positive

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

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• 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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• You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.

  R. Buckminster Fuller

  Inspirational, Change, Wisdom

  303 Copy quote

• Take the best that exists and make it better.

  Henry Royce

  Engineering, Rolls Royce, Civil Engineer

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

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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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• Scientists study the world as it is, engineers create the world that never has been.

  Theodore von Karman

  Engineering, World, Study

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  One man's 'magic' is another man's engineering. 'Supernatural' is a null word.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Men, Engineering, Usa

  Robert A. Heinlein (1987). “Time Enough for Love”, p.236, Penguin

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• 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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• Engineering is not merely knowing and being knowledgeable, like a walking encyclopedia; engineering is not merely analysis; engineering is not merely the possession of the capacity to get elegant solutions to non-existent engineering problems; engineering is practicing the art of the organizing forces of technological change ... Engineers operate at the interface between science and society.

  Gordon S. Brown

  Art, Knowledge, Science

  12 Copy quote

• The best way to predict the future is to create it.

  Peter Drucker

  Inspirational, Life, Motivational

  322 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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• When you want to know how things really work, study them when they're coming apart.

  William Gibson

  Engineering, Design, Want

  William Gibson (2010). “Zero History”, p.183, Penguin

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• The human foot is a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art.

  Leonardo da Vinci

  Art, Work, Engineering

  26 Copy quote

• In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few.

  Shunryu Suzuki

  Inspirational, Teaching, Imagination

  Shunryu Suzuki (2010). “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind”, p.2, Shambhala Publications

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• The best way to predict the future is to invent it.

  Alan Kay

  Inspirational, Motivational, Positive

  Walter Isaacson (2011). “Steve Jobs”, p.95, Simon and Schuster

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• The most important thing is to keep trying...

  Dieter F. Uchtdorf

  Engineering, Important, Trying

  "Are You Sleeping through the Restoration?". Dieter F. Uchtdorf's address at the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, www.lds.org. April 2014.

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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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• Manufacturing is more than just putting parts together. It's coming up with ideas, testing principles and perfecting the engineering, as well as final assembly.

  James Dyson

  Engineering, Ideas, Together

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• No one wants to learn from mistakes, but we cannot learn enough from successes to go beyond the state of the art.

  Henry Petroski

  Success, Art, Mistake

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• All we know about the new economic world is that nations which train engineers will prevail over those which train lawyers. No nation has ever sued its way to greatness.

  Richard Lamm

  Greatness, Engineering, World

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• What we usually consider as impossible are simply engineering problems... there's no law of physics preventing them.

  Michio Kaku

  Engineering, Law, Impossible

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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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  Basic research is what I am doing when I don't know what I am doing.

  Wernher von Braun

  Wisdom, Witty, Humorous

  "Work, Society, and Culture". The New York Times, December 16, 1957.

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• When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty but when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.

  R. Buckminster Fuller

  Beauty, Beautiful, Niece

  69 Copy quote