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As soon as an Analytical Engine exists, it will necessarily guide the future course of the science. Whenever any result is sought by its aid, the question will then arise — by what course of calculation can these results be arrived at by the machine in the shortest time?

— Charles Babbage Passages from the Life of a Philosopher (1864)

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More quotes by Charles Babbage

The whole of arithmetic now appeared within the grasp of mechanism.

Passages from the Life of a Philosopher (1864)

I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.

Passages from the Life of a Philosopher (1864)

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.

The triumph of the industrial arts will advance the cause of civilization more rapidly than its warmest advocates could have hoped, and contribute to the permanent prosperity and strength of the country far more than the most splendid victories of successful war.

p. xii-xiii; Cited in: Samuel Smiles Industrial biography; iron-workers and tool-makers (1864)

It appears to me, that any explanation of the cheapness of manufactured articles, as consequent upon the division of labour, would be incomplete if the following principle were omitted to be stated.

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