Charles Babbage Quotes

63 quotes in 1143 categories

• On two occasions I have been asked, 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I…
• Errors using inadequate data are much less than those using no data at all.
• 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…
• The difference between a tool and a machine is not capable of very precise distinction; nor is it necessary, in a popular explanation of those…
• In mathematics we have long since drawn the rein, and given over a hopeless race.
• The public character of every public servant is legitimate subject of discussion, and his fitness or unfitness for office may be fairly canvassed by any…
• Another mode of accumulating power arises from lifting a weight and then allowing it to fall.
• I am inclined to attach some importance to the new system of manufacturing; and venture to throw it out with the hope of its receiving…
• Those from whose pocket the salary is drawn, and by whose appointment the officer was made, have always a right to discuss the merits of…
• A tool is usually more simple than a machine; it is generally used with the hand, whilst a machine is frequently moved by animal or…
• The economy of human time is the next advantage of machinery in manufactures.
• The half minute which we daily devote to the winding-up of our watches is an exertion of labour almost insensible; yet, by the aid of…
• At each increase of knowledge, as well as on the contrivance of every new tool, human labour becomes abridged.
• Telegraphs are machines for conveying information over extensive lines with great rapidity.
• The possessors of wealth can scarcely be indifferent to processes which, nearly or remotely have been the fertile source of their possessions.
• 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…
• Surely, if knowledge is valuable, it can never be good policy in a country far wealthier than Tuscany, to allow a genius like Mr. Dalton's,…
• The fatigue produced on the muscles of the human frame does not altogether depend on the actual force employed in each effort, but partly on…
• The proportion between the velocity with which men or animals move, and the weights they carry, is a matter of considerable importance, particularly in military…
• In turning from the smaller instruments in frequent use to the larger and more important machines, the economy arising from the increase of velocity becomes…

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