Charles Babbage Quotes
- A powerful attraction exists, therefore, to the promotion of a study and of duties of all others engrossing the time most completely, and which is less benefited than most others by any acquaintance with science.
- A tool is usually more simple than a machine; it is generally used with the hand, whilst a machine is frequently moved by animal or steam power.
- Another mode of accumulating power arises from lifting a weight and then allowing it to fall.
- At each increase of knowledge, as well as on the contrivance of every new tool, human labour becomes abridged.
- Errors using inadequate data are much less than those using no data at all.
- I am inclined to attach some importance to the new system of manufacturing; and venture to throw it out with the hope of its receiving a full discussion among those who are most interestedin the subject.
- In
- In mathematics we have long since drawn the rein, and given over a hopeless race.
- In turning from the smaller instruments in frequent use to the larger and more important machines, the economy arising from the increase of velocity becomes more striking.
- It is therefore not unreasonable to suppose that some portion of the neglect of science in
- It will be readily admitted, that a degree conferred by an university, ought to be a pledge to the public that he who holds it possesses a certain quantity of knowledge.
- On two occasions I have been asked, 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.
- Perhaps it would be better for science, that all criticism should be avowed.
- Some kinds of nails, such as those used for defending the soles of coarse shoes, called hobnails, require a particular form of the head, which is made by the stroke of a die.
- Surely, if knowledge is valuable, it can never be good policy in a country far wealthier than
- Telegraphs are machines for conveying information over extensive lines with great rapidity.
- That science has long been neglected and declining in
- I need hardly point out to you that this calculation would tend to keep the sum total of the world's population in a state of perpetual equipoise whereas it is a well-known fact that the said sum total is constantly on the increase. I would therefore take the liberty of suggesting that in the next edition of your excellent poem the erroneous calculation to which I refer should be corrected as follows:'Every moment dies a man / And one and a sixteenth is born.' I may add that the exact figures are 1.167, but something must, of course, be conceded to the laws of metre.
- Forging differs from hoaxing, inasmuch as in the later the deceit is intended to last for a time, and then be discovered, to the ridicule of those who have credited it; whereas the forger is one who, wishing to acquire a reputation for science, records observations which he has never made. Charles Babbage Quotes, Reflections on the Decline of Science in
- Of Cooking. This is an art of various forms, the object of which is to give ordinary observations the appearance and character of those of the highest degree of accuracy. One of its numerous processes is to make multitudes of observations, and out of these to select only those which agree, or very nearly agree. If a hundred observations are made, the cook must be very unhappy if he cannot pick out fifteen or twenty which will do for serving up. Charles Babbage Quotes, Reflections on the Decline of Science in
- Trimming consists of clipping off little bits here and there from those observations which differ most in excess from the mean, and in sticking them onto those which are too small; a species of 'equitable adjustment,' as a radical would term it, which cannot be admitted in science. Charles Babbage Quotes,'On the Frauds of Observers', Reflections on the Decline of Science in
- A young man passes from our public schools to the universities, ignorant almost of the elements of every branch of useful knowledge. Charles Babbage Quotes, Reflections on the Decline of Science in
- Errors using inadequate data are much less than those using no data at all
- For one person who is blessed with the power of invention, many will always be found who have the capacity of applying principles. Charles Babbage Quotes,Reflections on the Decline of Science in
- He will also find that the high and independent spirit, which usually dwells in the breast of those who are deeply versed in scientific pursuits, is ill adapted for administrative appointments; and that even if successful, he must hear many things he disapproves, and raise no voice against them. Charles Babbage Quotes, Reflections on the Decline of Science in
- I have no desire to write my own biography, as long as I have strength and means to do better work. Charles Babbage Quotes,Passages From the Life of a Philosopher (1864), vii.
- I look upon it [mechanical notation] as one of the most important additions I have made to human knowledge. It has placed the construction of machinery in the rank of a demonstrative science. The day will arrive when no school of mechanical drawing will be thought complete without teaching it. Charles Babbage Quotes,Passages From the Life of a Philosopher (1864), 452.
- It can happen to but few philosophers, and but at distant intervals, to snatch a science, like Charles Babbage Quotes, Reflections on the Decline of Science in
- Long intervals frequently elapse between the discovery of new principles in science and their practical application… Those intellectual qualifications, which give birth to new principles or to new methods, are of quite a different order from those which are necessary for their practical application. Charles Babbage Quotes,Reflections on the Decline of Science in
- No person will deny that the highest degree of attainable accuracy is an object to be desired, and it is generally found that the last advances towards precision require a greater devotion of time, labour, and expense, than those which precede them. Charles Babbage Quotes,Reflections on the Decline of Science in
- Precedents are treated by powerful minds as fetters with which to bind down the weak, as reasons with which to mistify the moderately informed, and as reeds which they themselves fearlessly break through whenever new combinations and difficult emergencies demand their highest efforts. Charles Babbage Quotes,A Word to the Wise (1833), 3-6. Quoted in Anthony Hyman (ed.), Science and Reform: Selected Works of Charles Babbage (1989), 202.
- Remember that accumulated knowledge, like accumulated capital, increases at compound interest: but it differs from the accumulation of capital in this; that the increase of knowledge produces a more rapid rate of progress, whilst the accumulation of capital leads to a lower rate of interest. Capital thus checks its own accumulation: knowledge thus accelerates its own advance. Each generation, therefore, to deserve comparison with its predecessor, is bound to add much more largely to the common stock than that which it immediately succeeds. Charles Babbage Quotes,The Exposition of 1851: Or the Views of Industry, Science and Government of
- Science in Charles Babbage Quotes,The Exposition of 1851: Or the Views of Industry, Science and Government of
- Scientific knowledge scarcely exists amongst the higher classes of society. The discussion in the Houses of Lords or of Commons, which arise on the occurrence of any subjects connected with science, sufficiently prove this fact… Charles Babbage Quotes,Reflections on the Decline of Science in
- That a country, [England], eminently distinguished for its mechanical and manufacturing ingenuity, should be indifferent to the progress of inquiries which form the highest departments of that knowledge on whose more elementary truths its wealth and rank depend, is a fact which is well deserving the attention of those who shall inquire into the causes that influence the progress of nations. Charles Babbage Quotes,Reflections on the Decline of Science in
- The errors which arise from the absence of facts are far more numerous and more durable than those which result from unsound reasoning respecting true data. Charles Babbage Quotes,On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures (1832), 119.
- The first steps in the path of discovery, and the first approximate measures, are those which add most to the existing knowledge of mankind. Charles Babbage Quotes,Reflections on the Decline of Science in
- The gradual advance of Geology, during the last twenty years, to the dignity of a science, has arisen from the laborious and extensive collection of facts, and from the enlightened spirit in which the inductions founded on those facts have been deduced and discussed. To those who are unacquainted with this science, or indeed to any person not deeply versed in the history of this and kindred subjects, it is impossible to convey a just impression of the nature of that evidence by which a multitude of its conclusions are supported:—evidence in many cases so irresistible, that the records of the past ages, to which it refers, are traced in language more imperishable than that of the historian of any human transactions; the relics of those beings, entombed in the strata which myriads of centuries have heaped upon their graves, giving a present evidence of their past existence, with which no human testimony can compete. Charles Babbage Quotes,The Ninth
- The influence of electricity in producing decompositions, although of inestimable value as an instrument of discovery in chemical inquiries, can hardly be said to have been applied to the practical purposes of life, until the same powerful genius [Davy] which detected the principle, applied it, by a singular felicity of reasoning, to arrest the corrosion of the copper-sheathing of vessels. ... this was regarded as by Charles Babbage Quotes,Reflections on the Decline of Science in
- The tastes and pursuits of manhood will bear on them the traces of the earlier impressions of our education. It is therefore not unreasonable to suppose that some portion of the neglect of science in Charles Babbage Quotes,Reflections on the Decline of Science in
- The whole of the developments and operations of analysis are now capable of being executed by machinery ... As soon as an Analytical Engine exists, it will necessarily guide the future course of science. Charles Babbage Quotes,Passages From the Life of a Philosopher (1864), 136-7.
- Unless there exist peculiar institutions for the support of such inquirers, or unless the Government directly interfere, the contriver of a thaumatrope may derive profit from his ingenuity, whilst he who unravels the laws of light and vision, on which multitudes of phenomena depend, shall descend unrewarded to the tomb. Charles Babbage Quotes,Reflections on the Decline of Science in
- What is there in a name? It is merely an empty basket, until you put something into it. Charles Babbage Quotes,Passages From the Life of a Philosopher (1864), 1.
- Whenever a man can get hold of numbers, they are invaluable: if correct, they assist in informing his own mind, but they are still more useful in deluding the minds of others. Numbers are the masters of the weak, but the slaves of the strong. Charles Babbage Quotes,Passages From the Life of a Philosopher (1864), 410.
- 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 Quotes,To an unidentified American, Burndy Library, as quoted inAnthony Hyman, Charles Babbage: Pioneer of the Computer (1985), 135.
- 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 Quotes,To an unidentified American, Burndy Library, as quoted inAnthony Hyman, Charles Babbage: Pioneer of the Computer (1985), 135.
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