Even the future used to be better in the past.
Quote of the Week 43 "Even the future used to be better in the past. " ― Karl Valentin "Früher war sogar die Zukunft besser. " ― Karl Valentin As seen on the menu of Berggasthof Neureuth .
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Precision is vanity, recall is sanity.
Quote of the Week 42 "Pr ecision is vanity, recall is sanity. " ― Martin White Title of a recent blog article by Martin White . For a lot of use cases in information management and search ("finding all the relevant results"), false positives (as a result of lesser precision) are easier to handle than false negatives (as a result of insufficient recall) as one might not even know these misses exist in the information base (" You don't know what you don't know "). For more information on Type I ("false positive") vs. Type II ("false negative") Errors see for example Wikipedia .
Speech was given to man to conceal his thoughts.
Quote of the Week 41 " Speech was given to man to conceal his thoughts. " ― Charles Maurice de Talleyrand -Périgord Triggered by Harald Schmidt's use of Talleyrand 's quote in a TV discussion earlier this summer. Most likely a variation of a quote by Voltaire : " Men use thought only to justify their wrong doings, and employ speech only to conceal their thoughts. " " Die Menschen gebrauchen ihren Verstand nur, um ihr Unrecht zu rechtfertigen, und ihre Sprache allein, um ihre Gedanken zu verbergen. "
The gurney is the reward.
Quote of the Week 40 " The gurney is the reward. " ― Malapropism I came across this malapropism of the zen proverb and title of the 1987 book " The Journey is the Reward " on Steve Jobs thirty years ago when working for NeXT. The January 1991 issue of MacWorld attributes the origin to Apple employees suggesting alternative company slogans following the company's announcement of the discontinuation of profit sharing.
It is by logic that we prove, but by intuition that we discover.
Quote of the Week 39 " It is by logic that we prove , but by intuition that we discover. To know how to criticize is good, to know how to create is better.“ ― Henri Poincaré Triggered by Jay McClelland ’ s use of the first part of the quote in a recent podcast with Lex Fridman.
When the moon reaches fullness, it begins to wane.
Quote of the Week 38 " When the moon reaches fullness, it begins to wane. " ― Sima Qian Triggered by Kai Strittmatter citing another Sima Qian quote in chapter "Das eiserne Haus" of his book " Die Neuerfindung der Diktatur - Wie China den digitalen Überwachungsstaat aufbaut und uns damit herausfordert " in German: "Besser als die Zustimmung der Menge: die Widerrede eines einzigen mutigen Mannes!" Strittmatter's book for the US market: " We Have Been Harmonized - Life in China's Surveillance State "
Man can embody truth but he cannot know it.
Quote of the Week 37 " Man can embody truth but he cannot know it." ― William Butler Yeats Triggered by the use of the quote in the documentary " Being in the World - On the Subject of the #Heideggerian Dasein " which is referenced in the recent research paper " A brief history of AI: how to prevent another winter (a critical review) ".
It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.
Quote of the Week 36 " It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future. " ― Danish proverb See Quote Investigator for background information. German translation: "Prognosen sind schwierig, besonders wenn sie die Zukunft betreffen." Background information in German .
Man can do what he wills but he cannot will what he wills.
Quote of the Week 35 " Man can do what he wills but he cannot will what he wills. " ― Arthur Schopenhauer Triggered by a podcast interview with Prof. Dr. Dr. Gerhart Roth where he cited the original quote in German: " Der Mensch kann tun was er will; er kann aber nicht wollen was er will. " Later translated as: " Man can do what he wants but he cannot want what he wants. "
What's not worth doing is not worth doing well.
Quote of the Week 34 " What's not worth doing is not worth doing well. " ― Abraham Maslow Triggered by Scott Barry Kaufman's tweet in the context of the promotion of his book " Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization " on a podcast with Jordan B. Peterson. Originally stated in Maslow's book " Maslow on Management " (original title: " Eupsychian Management ") and later referenced in the book " The Maslow Business Reader " (pg. 17). The complementary statement to the strive for effectiveness and efficiency to be productive : " Do the right things and do them right. " Spending time and resources on the wrong thing is just a waste. See also: Source: " Avoid Doing the Wrong things Righter… But, “By What Method?” ".