It is a lot better to walk alone than with a crowd going in the wrong direction.
Quote of the Week 22 " It is a lot better to walk alone than with a crowd going in the wrong direction ." ― A @ProfFeynman tweet Source: Tweet
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Intelligence is what you use when you don't know what to do.
Quote of the Week 21 " Intelligence is what you use when you don't know what to do. " ― Jean Piaget Triggered by the use of the quote in a recent tweet by François Chollet.
All actual life is encounter.
Quote of the Week 20 " All actual life is encounter. " ― Martin Buber (I and Thou) Variant translation: "All real life is meeting." "Alles wirkliche Leben ist Begegnung." ― Martin Buber (Ich und Du) Triggered by the use of the quote in a recent podcast .
They lie to us, we know they're lying, they know we know they're lying, but they keep lying to us, and we keep pretending to believe them.
Quote of the Week 19 " They lie to us, we know they're lying, they know we know they're lying, but they keep lying to us, and we keep pretending to believe them. " ― Elena Gorokhova ( A Mountain of Crumbs ) Triggered by the use of a variant of the quote attributed to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn : "We know they are lying. They know they are lying. They know that we know they are lying. We know that they know that we know they are lying. And still they continue to lie."
Don’t tell people what to do; tell them what you need accomplished, and you’ll be amazed at the results.
Quote of the Week 18 " Don’t tell people what to do; tell them what you need accomplished, and you’ll be amazed at the results. " ― George S. Patton Triggered by Marty Cagan's use of this variant of the quote in the Silicon Valley Product Group blog article " The Alternative to Roadmaps ". Original quote : " Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results. "
Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.
Quote of the Week 17 " Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken." ― misattributed to Oscar Wilde Source: Quote Investigator . See also: Professor Buzzkill .
There is no truth, only belief.
Quote of the Week 16 " There is no truth, only belief." ― Unknown I have seen this quote attributed to René Descartes and David Hume but could not find a definitive source. See also " The Belief in Truth " and Oleg Filin's " The Portrait of M. Monroe " for expressing the same thought.
Good artists copy. Great artists steal.
Quote of the Week 15 " Good artists copy. Great artists steal." ― Misattributed to Pablo Picasso Source: Quote Investigator
Many are stubborn in pursuit of the path they have chosen, few in pursuit of the goal.
Quote of the Week 14 " Many are stubborn in pursuit of the path they have chosen, few in pursuit of the goal." ― Friedrich Nietzsche Triggered by the use of the quote in an internal presentation. " V iele sind hartnäckig in Bezug auf den einmal eingeschlagenen Weg, wenige in Bezug auf das Ziel ." ― Friedrich Nietzsche ( Werk: Menschliches, Allzumenschliches I, Aph. 494 )
The truth is rarely pure and never simple.
Quote of the Week 13 " The truth is rarely pure and never simple." ― Oscar Wilde Triggered by the use of the quote from "The Importance of Being Earnest" in a recent tweet by Kara Swisher.
There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all.
Quote of the Week 12 " There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all. " ― Peter Drucker Triggered by the use of the quote in a review of the book " Ask Your Developer " by Jeff Lawson. In line with a quote cited here before: " What's not worth doing is not worth doing well. " ― Abraham Maslow
Optimism is just lack of information.
Quote of the Week 11 "Optimism is just lack of information ." ― Heiner Müller Alternative view: "Pessimism is just lack of hope ." Original quote in German: "Optimismus ist nur ein Mangel an Information ." ― Heiner Müller
You are not lost unless you think you are lost.
Quote of the Week 10 "Y ou are not lost unless you think you are lost ." ― Thomas F. Freeman Source: NY Times 2020 Obituary citing from his biography authored by James Ford. Unofficial motto: “What we do, we do well; what we don’t do well, we don’t do at all.” Originally triggered by Ethan Mollick's tweets in January 2022 and 2021 for Martin Luther King Day.
Worrying does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.
Quote of the Week 9 " Worrying does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength . " ― Corrie ten Boom Triggered by Scott Barry Kaufman's tweet . “Worrying does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.” - Corrie ten Boom pic.twitter.com/vMAayJWrYj — Scott Barry Kaufman ⛵ (@sbkaufman) February 27, 2022 " Sich sorgen nimmt dem Morgen nichts von seinem Leid, aber es raubt dem Heute die Kraft. " ― Corrie ten Boom
50% of the work is done by the square root of the total number of people who participate in the work.
Quote of the Week 8 "50% of the work is done by the square root of the total number of people who participate in the work." ― Price's Square Root Law (adapted) Triggered by Brian Burns ' use of the law in the context of sales organizations. Note that Price 's well-known square root law originally states that "half of the literature on a subject will be contributed by the square root of the total number of authors publishing in that area". ( Price's square root law: Empirical validity and relation to Lotka's law - ScienceDirect ) One should be careful applying the law to different organizational contexts. It does not necessarily apply to performance management in general. ( Kienbaum Blog - Price’s Law and the Trouble of Operationalizing Performance ) See also: Price's Law: What It Is And Why You Should Care - Darius Foroux
Which is more important, the journey or the destination? The company.
Quote of the Week 7 "Which is more important," asked Big Panda, "the journey or the destination?" "The company," said Tiny Dragon. ― James Norbury ( Big Panda & Tiny Dragon ) (C) James Nurbory, jamesnurbory .com German translation : "Was ist wichtiger?", fragte der große Panda, "Der Weg oder das Ziel?" "Die Weggefährten", sagte der kleine Drache.
Give me questions I can't answer not answers I can't question.
Quote of the Week 6 " Give me questions I can't answer not answers I can't question. " ― A @ProfFeynman tweet Source: Tweet
Man is a deterministic device thrown into a probabilistic universe. In this match, surprises are expected.
Quote of the Week 5 " Man is a deterministic device thrown into a probabilistic universe. In this match, surprises are expected ." ― Amos Tversky Cited in Michael Lewis' book " The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds " featuring the joint work and friendship of two renowned psychologists: Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky . See http://covestreetcapital.com/amos-tversky-an-amazing-man/ for more Amos Tversky quotes taken from the book .
No one ever made a decision because of a number. They need a story.
Quote of the Week 4 " No one ever made a decision because of a number. They need a story ." ― Daniel Kahneman Cited in a 2017 Forbes and a 2016 Vanity Fair article that promoted Michael Lewis' book " The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds " featuring the joint work and friendship of two renowned psychologists: Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky .
The greatest shortcoming of the human race is man’s inability to understand the exponential function.
Quote of the Week 3 " The greatest shortcoming of the human race is man’s inability to understand the exponential function." ― Albert A. Bartlett Source: Quote Investigator
You shall know a word by the company it keeps.
Quote of the Week 2 " You shall know a word by the company it keeps." ― John Rupert Firth Cited in countless publications on Natural Language Processing (NLP) including Christopher Manning's Stanford 2022 " Lecture 1: Introduction and Word Vectors " (slide #18).
As you start to walk on the way, the way appears.
Quote of the Week 1 " As you start to walk on the way, the way appears. " ― Dsch alāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī (Rumi)
Quote of the Year 2021
Quote of the Year 2021* " Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. " ― Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire [CW 1] Runner-up "Software doesn’t age like fine wine; it ages like milk. Software goes bad over time." ― Josh Corman [CW 29] * as measured by LinkedIn impressions.
It's your road, and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you.
Quote of the Week 52 " It's your road, and yours alone. O thers may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you. " ― Dsch alāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī (Rumi)
Knowledge is having the right answers. Intelligence is asking the right questions. Wisdom is knowing when to ask the right questions.
Quote of the Week 51 " Knowledge is having the right answers. Intelligence is asking the right questions. Wisdom is knowing when to ask the right questions." ― A @ProfFeynman tweet Source: Tweet