50+ Charles Babbage Quotes | Minimalist Quotes

The first steps in the path of discovery, and the first approximate measures, are those which add most to the existing knowledge of mankind.
CHARLES BABBAGE

Discover Existence Kind Knowledge Man Measurement Path Step
The tastes and pursuits of manhood will bear on them the traces of the earlier impressions of our education. It is therefore not unreasonable to suppose that some portion of the neglect of science in England, may be attributed to the system of education we pursue.
CHARLES BABBAGE

Education Impression Man Pursue Pursuit Science Sex Taste
I have no desire to write my own biography, as long as I have strength and means to do better work.
CHARLES BABBAGE

Better Desire Myself Strength Work Writing
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.
CHARLES BABBAGE

Absence Errors Fact Reason Result Rise True
Errors using inadequate data are much less than those using no data at all.
CHARLES BABBAGE

Data Errors Information
There 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 BABBAGE

Calm Criticism Deserve Philosophy Strong
No 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 BABBAGE

Accurate Degree Devotion Greatness Person Time
Some kinds of nails, such as those used for defending the soles of coarse shoes, called hobnails, require a particular form of the head, which is made by the stroke of a die.
CHARLES BABBAGE

Death Form Head Kind Shoes Tools
It is difficult to estimate the misery inflicted upon thousands of persons, and the absolute pecuniary penalty imposed upon multitudes of intellectual workers by the loss of their time, destroyed by organ-grinders and other similar nuisances.
CHARLES BABBAGE

Destroy Difficult Estimate Intellectual Loss Misery Person Time Work
Whenever 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 BABBAGE

Correct Hold Man Number Slave Strong Value Weakness
What is there in a name? It is merely an empty basket, until you put something into it.
CHARLES BABBAGE

Basket Empty Name Yourself
For one person who is blessed with the power of invention, many will always be found who have the capacity of applying principles.
CHARLES BABBAGE

Blessing Invention Person Power Principle
At each increase of knowledge, as well as on the contrivance of every new tool, human labour becomes abridged.
CHARLES BABBAGE

Human Knowledge Tools Work
Another mode of accumulating power arises from lifting a weight and then allowing it to fall.
CHARLES BABBAGE

Fall Mode Power Rise
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 BABBAGE

Country Estimate Future Live Praise
The economy of human time is the next advantage of machinery in manufactures.
CHARLES BABBAGE

Economy Human Machine Time
The 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

Capability Development Execution Future Guide Machine Necessary Operation Science
A powerful attraction exists, therefore, to the promotion of a study and of duties of all others engrossing the time most completely, and which is less benefited than most others by any acquaintance with science.
CHARLES BABBAGE

Attraction Existence Powerful Responsibility Science Study
Whenever the work is itself light, it becomes necessary, in order to economize time, to increase the velocity.
CHARLES BABBAGE

Light Necessary Order Time Work
I wish to God these calculations had been executed by steam.
CHARLES BABBAGE

Calculation Execution God Myself
Perhaps the most important principle on which the economy of a manufacture depends, is the division of labour amongst the persons who perform the work.
CHARLES BABBAGE

Important Performance Person Principle Work

Charles Babbage Quotes

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