Estimating Quotes

• The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Work, Philosophical, Men

  "The Prince". Book by Niccolo Machiavelli, Ch. 22, 1513.

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• I am sure that in estimating every man's value either in private or public life, a pure integrity is the quality we take first into calculation, and that learning and talents are only the second.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Integrity, Men, Quality

  Thomas Jefferson, Jerry Holmes (2002). “Thomas Jefferson: A Chronology of His Thoughts”, p.132, Rowman & Littlefield

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• Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.

  Malcolm Forbes

  Inspirational, Positive, Strength

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• If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.

  Marcus Aurelius

  Inspirational, Positive, Depression

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• Estimating is what you do when you don't know.

  Sherman Kent

  Planning, Management, Knows

  "Estimates and Influence," Foreign Service Journal (April 1969).

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• people who pay greater respect to a wealthy villain than to an honest, upright man in poverty, almost deserve to be enslaved; they plainly show that wealth, however it may be acquired, is, in their esteem, to be preferred to virtue.

  John Hancock

  Respect, Honesty, Men

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• I just think it's good to be confident. If I'm not on my team why should anybody else be?

  Robert Downey, Jr.

  Confidence, Self Esteem, Team

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• We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don't let yourself be lulled into inaction.

  Bill Gates

  Inspirational, Motivational, Change

  Bill Gates (2009). “Business @ the Speed of Thought: Succeeding in the Digital Economy”, p.37, Hachette UK

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• What is this world? A complex whole, subject to endless revolutions. All these revolutions show a continual tendency to destruction; a swift succession of beings who follow one another, press forward, and vanish; a fleeting symmetry; the order of a moment. I reproached you just now with estimating the perfection of things by your own capacity; and I might accuse you here of measuring its duration by the length of your own days.

  Denis Diderot

  Order, Perfection, World

  "Book by Denis Diderot". Book by Denis Diderot, 1749.

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• When you're appeasing too much, you might be egotistically over-estimating everyone's need for your approval.

  Criss Jami

  Approval, Needs, Might

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• The art of drawing conclusions from experiments and observations consists in evaluating probabilities and in estimating whether they are sufficiently great or numerous enough to constitute proofs. This kind of calculation is more complicated and more difficult than it is commonly thought to be. . . .

  Antoine Lavoisier

  Art, Drawing, Kind

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• Pressure, no doubt, has always been a most important factor in the metamorphism of rocks; but there is, I think, at present some danger in over-estimating this, and representing a partial statement of truth as the whole truth. Geology, like many human beings, suffered from convulsions in its infancy; now, in its later years, I apprehend an attack of pressure on the brain.

  Thomas George Bonney

  Science, Thinking, Rocks

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• The natural formation of the country is the soldier's best ally; but a power of estimating the adversary, of controlling the forces of victory, and of shrewdly calculating difficulties, dangers and distances, constitutes the test of a great general.

  Sun Tzu

  Country, Art, War

  Sun Tzu, Julius Caesar, Einhard, Niccolò Machiavelli, Carl von Clausewitz (2016). “Strategy Six Pack”, p.23, Lulu.com

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• You will be able to appreciate the influence of such an Engine on the future progress of science. I live in a country which is incapable of estimating it.

  Charles Babbage

  Country, Appreciation, Science

  "Charles Babbage: Pioneer of the Computer". Book by Anthony Hyman, 1982.

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• No one should be judged by their defects. The great virtues a person has are his or her especially. But their errors are the common weakness of humanity and should never be counted in estimating a person’s character.

  Swami Vivekananda

  Character, Errors, Humanity

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• It has always struck me that one of the readiest ways of estimating a country's regard for law is to notice what arms the officers of the law are carrying: in England it is little batons, in France swords, in many countries revolvers, and in Russia the police used to have artillery.

  Lord Dunsany

  Country, Russia, Law

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• Anybody who imagines that an election can be won under these circumstances by banging on about William Ayers and Jeremiah Wright is ... to put it mildly ... severely under-estimating the electoral importance of pocketbook issues. We conservatives are sending a powerful, inadvertent message with this negative campaign against Barack Obama's associations and former associations: that we lack a positive agenda of our own and that we don't care about the economic issues that are worrying American voters.

  David Frum

  Powerful, Issues, Worry

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• When I was a graduate student, estimating and interpreting distributed lags topped the agenda of macroeconomists and other applied economists.

  Thomas J. Sargent

  Agendas, Lag, Students

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• If you think education is expensive, try estimating the cost of ignorance.

  Howard Gardner

  Ignorance, Thinking, Trying

  Big Think Interview, bigthink.com. September 3, 2009.

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• If . . . a principle of true Religion [i.e., true Christianity] should . . . gain ground, there is no estimating the effects on public morals, and the consequent influence on our political welfare.

  William Wilberforce

  Political, Principles, Gains

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• There is no estimating the wit and wisdom concealed and latent in our lower fellow mortals until made manifest by profound experiences; for it is through suffering that dogs as well as saints are developed and made perfect.

  John Muir

  Dog, Perfect, Profound

  John Muir (1990). “Stickeen”, p.15, Heyday

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• ...you find your genius by looking in the mirror of your life. Your visible image shows your inner truth, so when you're estimating others, what you see is what you get. It therefore becomes critically important to see generously, or you will get only what you see; to see sharply, so that you discern the mix of traits rather than a generalized lump; and to see deeply into dark shadows, or else you will be deceived.

  James Hillman

  Dark, Mirrors, Shadow

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• In evaluating potential vendors, accurately estimating total cost of ownership is critical. Yet, this is often an area where companies don't put the right amount of effort. This tool can help those looking at Warehouse Management Systems get their arms around this key issue.

  Dan Gillmor

  Issues, Keys, Effort

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• Whosoever does not know how to recognize the faults of great men is incapable of estimating their perfections.

  Voltaire

  Men, Perfection, Doe

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• In estimating the adversities of life, we would seldom have much reason to complain of the evils we suffer, did we understand the dangers we daily escape.

  Norm MacDonald

  Adversity, Evil, Suffering

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