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There are so many ways of being wrong and so few ways of being right that it is much more economical to study successes.

— Richard Hamming Methods of Mathematics Applied to Calculus, Probability, and Statistics (1985)

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More quotes by Richard Hamming

The purpose of computing is insight, not numbers.

Numerical Methods for Scientists and Engineers (1962)

The idea that theorems follow from the postulates does not correspond to simple observation.

The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics (1980)

Typing is no substitute for thinking.

Are you sure you are not merely "programmed" in life by what by chance events happens to you?

The Art of Doing Science and Engineering: Learning to Learn (1991)

There is simply too much known to continue the older approach of giving detailed results.

Methods of Mathematics Applied to Calculus, Probability, and Statistics (1985)

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We spend our lives fighting to get people very slightly more stupid than ourselves to accept truths that the great men have always known.

Doris Lessing The Golden Notebook (1962)

To rank the effort above the prize may be called love.

Confucius

Greatness by nature includes a power, but not a will to power.

Martin Buber Between Man and Man (1965)

The weak shows his strength and hides his weaknesses; the magnificent exhibits his weaknesses like ornaments.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms (2010)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Richard Hamming (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.