"When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that……" — Arthur C. Clarke
"When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong. Perhaps the adjective 'elderly' requires definition. In physics, mathematics, and astronautics it means over thirty; in the other disciplines, senile decay is sometimes postponed to the forties. There are, of course, glorious exceptions; but as every researcher just out of college knows, scientists of over fifty are good for nothing but board meetings, and should at all costs be kept out of the laboratory!"
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Arthur C. Clarke
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More Adjective Quotes
This quote is filed under Adjective Quotes,
one of 87 quotes in that category. Here are a few more:
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Jealous, adj. Unduly concerned about the preservation of that which can be lost only if not worth keeping.
— Ambrose Bierce
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Mad, adj. Affected with a high degree of intellectual independence.
— Ambrose Bierce
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Ambidextrous, adj.: Able to pick with equal skill a right-hand pocket or a left.
— Ambrose Bierce
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Edible, adj.: Good to eat, and wholesome to digest, as a worm to a toad, a toad to a snake,…
— Ambrose Bierce
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Famous, adj.: Conspicuously miserable.
— Ambrose Bierce
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I like that 'Mad Men' is now an adjective I use to describe clothing when I'm shopping: 'I like this…
— Alison Brie
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Goresthorpe Grange is a feudal mansion - or so it was termed in the advertisement which originally brought it under…
— Arthur Conan Doyle
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The adjective is the banana peel of the parts of speech.
— Clifton Fadiman
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Whatever one wishes to say, there is one noun only by which to express it, one verb only to give…
— Guy de Maupassant
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Cuisine has become too complicated - this is about subject, verb, adjective: duck, turnips, sauce.
— Alain Ducasse
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If you can remember all the accessories that go with your best outfit, the contents of your purse, the starting…
— Stephen King
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Whatever the thing you wish to say, there is but one word to express it, but one verb to give…
— Gustave Flaubert
See all 87 Adjective Quotes »