You will be able to appreciate the influence of such an Engine on the future progress of science. I live in a country which is incapable of estimating it.
CHARLES BABBAGEYou will be able to appreciate the influence of such an Engine on the future progress of science. I live in a country which is incapable of estimating it.
CHARLES BABBAGEIf we look at the fact, we shall find that the great inventions of the age are not, with us at least, always produced in universities.
CHARLES BABBAGETo those who have chosen the profession of medicine, a knowledge of chemistry, and of some branches of natural history, and, indeed, of several other departments of science, affords useful assistance.
CHARLES BABBAGEThe 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.
CHARLES BABBAGEAnother mode of accumulating power arises from lifting a weight and then allowing it to fall.
CHARLES BABBAGEThere are few circumstances which so strongly distinguish the philosopher, as the calmness with which he can reply to criticisms he may think undeservedly severe.
CHARLES BABBAGEScientific knowledge scarcely exists amongst the higher classes of society. The discussion in the Houses of Lords or of Commons, which arise on the occurrence of any subjects connected with science, sufficiently prove this fact.
CHARLES BABBAGEThat the state of knowledge in any country will exert a directive influence on the general system of instruction adopted in it, is a principle too obvious to require investigation.
CHARLES BABBAGEA tool is usually more simple than a machine; it is generally used with the hand, whilst a machine is frequently moved by animal or steam power.
CHARLES BABBAGEIt will be readily admitted, that a degree conferred by an university, ought to be a pledge to the public that he who holds it possesses a certain quantity of knowledge.
CHARLES BABBAGENo person will deny that the highest degree of attainable accuracy is an object to be desired, and it is generally found that the last advances towards precision require a greater devotion of time, labour, and expense, than those which precede them.
CHARLES BABBAGEThe accumulation of skill and science which has been directed to diminish the difficulty of producing manufactured goods, has not been beneficial to that country alone in which it is concentrated distant kingdoms have participated in its advantages.
CHARLES BABBAGEWhenever a man can get hold of numbers, they are invaluable: if correct, they assist in informing his own mind, but they are still more useful in deluding the minds of others. Numbers are the masters of the weak, but the slaves of the strong.
CHARLES BABBAGEAn object is frequently not seen, from not knowing how to see it, rather than from any defect of the organ of vision.
CHARLES BABBAGEThe quantity of meaning compressed into small space by algebraic signs, is another circumstance that facilitates the reasonings we are accustomed to carry on by their aid.
CHARLES BABBAGEThe whole of the developments and operations of analysis are now capable of being executed by machinery … As soon as an Analytical Engine exists, it will necessarily guide the future course of science.
CHARLES BABBAGE