Summing Up

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In 1932, at the end of a 60-year career studying hydrodynamics, Sir Horace Lamb addressed the British Association for the Advancement of Science.

“I am an old man now,” he said, “and when I die and go to heaven there are two matters on which I hope for enlightenment. One is quantum electrodynamics, and the other is the turbulent motion of fluids. And about the former I am rather more optimistic.”

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Unquote

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“As centuries pass by, the mass of works grows endlessly, and one can foresee a time when it will be almost as difficult to educate oneself in a library, as in the universe, and almost as fast to seek a truth subsisting in nature, as lost among an immense number of books.” — Diderot

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More Morals

la rochefoucauld

Maxims of François VI, Duc de La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680):

  • “We commonly slander more thro’ Vanity than Malice.”
  • “We have more Laziness in our Minds than in our Bodies.”
  • “There are few People but what are ashamed of their Amours when the Fit is over.”
  • “We should not judge of a Man’s Merit by his great Qualities, but by the Use he makes of them.”
  • “He who is pleased with Nobody, is much more unhappy than he with whom Nobody is pleased.”
  • “There are some disguised Falsehoods so like Truths, that ‘twould be to judge ill not to be deceived by them.”
  • “Men sometimes think they hate Flattery, but they hate only the Manner of Flattering.”
  • “Acquired Honor is Surety for more.”
  • “Innocence don’t find near so much Protection as Guilt.”
  • “‘Tis our own Vanity that makes the Vanity of others intolerable.”
  • “‘Tis a common Fault to be never satisfied with ones Fortune, nor dissatisfied with ones Understanding.”
  • “Envy is more irreconcilable than Hatred.”
  • “‘Tis better to employ our Understanding, in bearing the Misfortunes that do befall us, than in foreseeing those that may.”
  • “A good Head finds less Trouble in submitting to a wrong Head than in conducting it.”
  • “Folly attends us close thro’ our whole Lives; and if anyone seems wise, ’tis merely because his Follies are proportionate to his Age, and Fortune.”

And “As ’tis the Characteristic of a great Genius to say much in a few Words, small Geniuses have on the contrary the Gift of speaking much and saying nothing.”

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One Way

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“‘Tis further from London to Highgate than from Highgate to London.” — James Howell, Proverbs, 1659

In his 1991 Dictionary of Scientific Quotations, Alan L. Mackay calls this “an example of a non-commutative metric.” Highgate is at the top of a hill.

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Unquote

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“Every honest researcher I know admits he’s just a professional amateur. He’s doing whatever he’s doing for the first time. That makes him an amateur. He has enough sense to know that he’s going to have a lot of trouble, so that makes him a professional.” — Charles F. Kettering

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Misc

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Image: Wikimedia Commons
  • ZZ Top’s first album is called ZZ Top’s First Album.
  • Supreme Court justice Byron White was the NFL’s top rusher in 1940.
  • LOVE ME TENDER is an anagram of DENVER OMELET.
  • Every palindromic number with an even number of digits is divisible by 11.
  • “In great attempts it is glorious even to fail.” — Cassius

From English antiquary John Aubrey’s 1696 Miscellanies: “Anno 1670, not far from Cyrencester, was an Apparition; Being demanded, whether a good Spirit or a bad? Returned no answer, but departed with a curious Perfume and a most melodious Twang.”

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