Probability Quotes - Page 7

• At a purely formal level, one could call probability theory the study of measure spaces with total measure one, but that would be like calling number theory the study of strings of digits which terminate.

  Terence Tao

  Probability Theory, Numbers, Space

  Terence Tao (2012). “Topics in Random Matrix Theory”, p.2, American Mathematical Soc.

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• A stochastic process is about the results of convolving probabilities-which is just what management is about, as well.

  Anthony Stafford Beer

  Management, Process, Results

  "Management Science" by Anthony Stafford Beer, (p. 58), 1968.

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• Arguments derived from probabilities are idle.

  Plato

  Argument, Idle

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• As for a future life, every man must judge for himself between conflicting vague probabilities.

  Charles Darwin

  Life, Men, Judging

  The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin Religion (p. 277)

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• When I was 16 I started keeping a diary in which I recorded my disagreements with the famous philosophers. I didn't insist that they were wrong, that I was right and I had to prevail. I just agreed and disagreed with them. I thought there was a high degree of probability that I was right and some other thinkers were wrong. But I wasn't positive about it.

  Albert Ellis

  Degrees, Diaries, Philosopher

  Source: business.highbeam.com

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• The scientific imagination always restrains itself within the limits of probability.

  Thomas Huxley

  Imagination, Limits

  Thomas Henry Huxley (2012). “Collected Essays, Volume V Science and Christian Tradition: Essays”, p.138, tredition

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• So vast, so limitless in capacity is man's imagination to disperse and burn away the rubble-dross of fact and probability, leaving only truth and dream.

  William Faulkner

  Dream, Men, Imagination

  William Faulkner (2013). “Requiem For A Nun”, p.230, Random House

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• For the first time in living memory, the whole class of graduates faces a future of crushing debt, and a high probability, almost the certainty, of ad hoc, temporary, insecure and part-time work and unpaid 'trainee' pseudo-jobs deceitfully rebranded as 'practices' - all considerably below the skills they have acquired and eons below the level of their expectations.

  Zygmunt Bauman

  Crush, Jobs, Memories

  Source: www.truth-out.org

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• I don’t mind the low probability of success, but it better be impactful if we do succeed.

  Vinod Khosla

  Mind, Succeed, Lows

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• Hope provides comfort, and hope does not always require probability.

  John Perry

  Motivational, Comfort, Doe

  John Perry (1978). “A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality”, p.2, Hackett Publishing

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• Lest men suspect your tale untrue, Keep probability in view.

  John Gay

  Math, Men, Views

  John Gay: Poetry and Prose Fables The Painter Who Pleased Nobody and Everybody 1. 1

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• If you equate the probability of the birth of a bacteria cell to chance assembly of its atoms, eternity will not suffice to produce one Faced with the enormous sum of lucky draws behind the success of the evolutionary game, one may legitimately wonder to what extent this success is actually written into the fabric of the universe.

  Christian de Duve

  Cells, Games, Atoms

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• One influential philosophical position about the use of probability in science holds that probabilities are objective only if they are based on micro-physics; all other probabilities should be interpreted subjectively, as merely revealing our ignorance about physical details. I have argued against this position, contending that the objectivity of micro-physical probabilities entails the objectivity of macro-probabilities.

  Elliott Sober

  Philosophical, Ignorance, Objectivity

  Source: www.3ammagazine.com

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• People dont realize that we cannot forecast the future. What we can do is have probabilities of what causes what, but thats as far as we go. And Ive had a very successful career as a forecaster, starting in 1948 forward. The number of mistakes I have made are just awesome. There is no number large enough to account for that.

  Alan Greenspan

  Mistake, Successful, Careers

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• Imagination is a good horse to carry you over the ground - not a flying carpet to set you free from probability.

  Robertson Davies

  Art, Horse, Imagination

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• Why, sir, there is every probability that you will soon be able to tax it!
  Said to William Gladstone, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he asked about the practical worth of electricity.

  Michael Faraday

  Science, Discovery, Able

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• The public totally discounts low-probability high-consequence events. The individual says, it's not going to be this plane, this bus, this time.

  Amanda Ripley

  Risk, Events, Management

  Amanda Ripley (2009). “The Unthinkable: Who survives when disaster strikes - and why”, p.63, Random House

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• Make your judgment trustworthy by trusting it. Cultivate regular periods of silence and meditation. The best time to build judgment is in solitude, when you can think out things for yourself without the probability of interruption.

  Grenville Kleiser

  Trust, Time, Thinking

  Grenville Kleiser (1949). “Make Your Life Worth Living”

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• It is dangerous to attach probability zero to anything other than a logical impossibility.

  Dennis Lindley

  Zero, Logical, Dangerous

  "Understanding Uncertainty". Book by Dennis Lindley (Chapter 5 "The Rules of Probability", p. 64), 2006.

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• The balance of probabilities, therefore, comes out strongly against the existence of a god.

  J. L. Mackie

  Balance, Existence

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• There are errors which no wise man will treat with rudeness while there is a probability that they may be the refraction of some great truth still below the horizon.

  Samuel Taylor Coleridge

  Wise, Men, Errors

  Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Henry Nelson Coleridge (1839). “On the Constitution of the Church and State According to the Idea of Each”, p.279

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• Hope is the belief in the probability of the possible rather than the necessity of the probable.

  Marshall Ganz

  Belief

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• The more connected that individual is to an issue they care about, the higher probability there is they will stay involved over a longer period of time.

  Chris Hughes

  Issues, Care, Individual

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• The Old Testament contains over 300 references to the Messiah that were fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Computations using the science of probability on just 8 of these prophecies show the chance that someone could have fulfilled all 8 prophecies is 10 (to the 17th power), or 1 in 100 quadrillion.

  Fritz Ridenour

  Bible, Jesus, Chance

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• We cannot judge either of the feelings or of the characters of men with perfect accuracy from their actions or their appearance in public; it is from their careless conversations, their half-finished sentences, that we may hope with the greatest probability of success to discover their real characters.

  Maria Edgeworth

  Real, Character, Men

  Maria Edgeworth “Castle Rackrent”, W. W. Norton & Company

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