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Peter Norvig's collection of quotes

63 points by anuraggoel 18y ago

mixmax 18y ago
He seems very fond of Douglas Adams.
- eru 18y ago
  Digital watches ARE a pretty neat idea!
mynameishere 18y ago
No art, however minor, demands less than total dedication if you want to excel in it. - Leon Battista Alberti, (architect [1/3rd], painter [1/3rd] and mathematician [1/3rd, possibly less])
anuraggoel 18y ago
Does anyone else think Sergey Brin's quote doesn't quite 'fit in' with the rest of the list in terms of quotability? "In the future, search engines should be as useful as HAL in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey--but hopefully they won't kill people."
nikils 18y ago
Science is like sex: sometimes something useful comes out, but that is not the reason we are doing it -- Richard Feynman s/Science/Startup/
- skmurphy 18y ago
  this is good, I want to use this as Nikil's application of to Feynman's metaphor for science to startups in my entrepreneurial quotes list. Can you please send me an appropriate attribution I can use.
somnambulist 18y ago
Education is an admirable thing. But it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught. - Oscar Wilde Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. - Steve Jobs Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform. - Mark Twain If sex is such a natural phenomenon, how come there are so many books on how to? - Bette Midler "Eighty percent of married men cheat in America. The rest cheat in Europe."
es 18y ago
One of my favorite quotes is by H. Skovoroda: "Merciful God for making the attainment of what is necessary easy, and for making everything that is hard to get unnecessary"
TweedHeads 18y ago
I don't see any god up here.- Yuri Gagarin (in orbit, 1961)
ntoll 18y ago
I like this one... Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is an absurd one. - Voltaire
deleted 18y ago
[deleted]
skmurphy 18y ago
I have seen Pasteur's quote frequently translated as "chance favors the prepared mind" but Norvig cites it as "chance favors only the prepared mind" which is closer to the original French and has a profoundly different meaning. It's certainly a stronger argument that a simple plan or clear hypothesis set will allow you to improvise more successfully as events unfold.
alexyim 18y ago
Am I the only one who doesn't see anything particularly special about Norvig's collection of quotes? Why do quotes that he likes hold any more relevance than someone else's? It's much better to build your own collection that is relevant to how you live your life.
senthil_rajasek 18y ago
Ironic but I love this one, A witty saying proves nothing. - Voltaire

63 points by anuraggoel 18y ago

mixmax 18y ago

He seems very fond of Douglas Adams.

eru 18y ago
Digital watches ARE a pretty neat idea!

mynameishere 18y ago

No art, however minor, demands less than total dedication if you want to excel in it. - Leon Battista Alberti, (architect [1/3rd], painter [1/3rd] and mathematician [1/3rd, possibly less])

anuraggoel 18y ago

Does anyone else think Sergey Brin's quote doesn't quite 'fit in' with the rest of the list in terms of quotability? "In the future, search engines should be as useful as HAL in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey--but hopefully they won't kill people."

nikils 18y ago

Science is like sex: sometimes something useful comes out, but that is not the reason we are doing it -- Richard Feynman s/Science/Startup/

skmurphy 18y ago
this is good, I want to use this as Nikil's application of to Feynman's metaphor for science to startups in my entrepreneurial quotes list. Can you please send me an appropriate attribution I can use.

somnambulist 18y ago

Education is an admirable thing. But it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught. - Oscar Wilde Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. - Steve Jobs Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform. - Mark Twain If sex is such a natural phenomenon, how come there are so many books on how to? - Bette Midler "Eighty percent of married men cheat in America. The rest cheat in Europe."

es 18y ago

One of my favorite quotes is by H. Skovoroda: "Merciful God for making the attainment of what is necessary easy, and for making everything that is hard to get unnecessary"

TweedHeads 18y ago

I don't see any god up here.- Yuri Gagarin (in orbit, 1961)

ntoll 18y ago

I like this one... Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is an absurd one. - Voltaire

deleted 18y ago

[deleted]

skmurphy 18y ago

I have seen Pasteur's quote frequently translated as "chance favors the prepared mind" but Norvig cites it as "chance favors only the prepared mind" which is closer to the original French and has a profoundly different meaning. It's certainly a stronger argument that a simple plan or clear hypothesis set will allow you to improvise more successfully as events unfold.

alexyim 18y ago

Am I the only one who doesn't see anything particularly special about Norvig's collection of quotes? Why do quotes that he likes hold any more relevance than someone else's? It's much better to build your own collection that is relevant to how you live your life.

senthil_rajasek 18y ago

Ironic but I love this one, A witty saying proves nothing. - Voltaire