Approach Quote by Henry Petroski

“Engineering, like poetry, is an attempt to approach perfection. And engineers, like poets, are seldom completely satisfied with their creations. They notice, even if no one else does, the world that is not quite le mot juste, or the hairline crack that blemishes the structure.” quote by Henry Petroski — Download Open image

“Engineering, like poetry, is an attempt to approach perfection. And engineers, like poets, are seldom completely satisfied with their creations. They notice, even if no one else does, the world that is not quite le mot juste, or the hairline crack that blemishes the structure.”

Henry Petroski

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 4.2 out of 5 (7 ratings)

Approach Cracks Creation Doe Engineering Engineers Ifs Perfection Poet Poetry Poetry is Satisfied Structure World

More by Henry Petroski

All conventional wisdom has an element of truth to it, but good design requires more than an element of truth - it requires an…

Henry Petroski

Image

It is really want, rather than need, that drives the process of technological evolution.

Henry Petroski

Image

A failed structure provides a counterexample to a hypothesis and shows us incontrovertibly what cannot be done, while a structure that stands without incident…

Henry Petroski

Image

Everything we do is designed, whether we're producing a magazine, a website, or a bridge. Design is really the creative invention that designs everything.

Henry Petroski

Image

I employ case studies of failure into my courses, emphasizing that they teach us much more than studies of success. It is not that…

Henry Petroski

Image

Whether or not science can be applied to that mental construct [i.e. the designed entity] is a matter of availability. If there is body…

Henry Petroski

Image

Failures are much more dramatic than successes, and people like drama. I think this is why automobile races draw such crowds. People expect spectacular…

Henry Petroski

Image

The most amazing achievement of the computer software industry is its continuing cancellation of the steady and staggering gains made by the computer hardware…

Henry Petroski

Image

For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by things large and small. I wanted to know what made my watch…

Henry Petroski

Image

Successful engineering is all about understanding how things break or fail.

Henry Petroski

Image

The space shuttle was designed, at least in part, to broaden our knowledge of the universe. To scientists, the vehicle was a tool; to…

Henry Petroski

Image

Because they are so humbled by their creations, engineers are naturally conservative in their expectations of technology. They know that the perfect system is…

Henry Petroski

Image

Explore all 67 Henry Petroski quotes

More Approach quotes

I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…

Aiden Wilson Tozer

Image

I'm in a business where there's complete anarchy. You can't control it - you can only react to it. The control that people traditionally…

Martin Sorrell

Image

When you approach something to photograph it, first be still with yourself until the object of your attention affirms your presence. Then don't leave…

Minor White

Image

We do not want to be reminded that it is we, the indigenous people, who are poor and exploited in the land of our…

Steven Biko

Image

One of the things I regret about not putting in that book or I think it's there but I didn't really elaborate on it, is contraception. I came across someone who articulated very clearly that one of the things which makes our approach to Buddhist practice in regards to sex different these days than it was in Buddhist times, is…

Brad Warner

Ideal for the child and society in the best of times, Rudolf Steiner's brilliant process of education is critically needed and profoundly relevant now at this time of childhood crisis and educational breakdown. Waldorf Education nurtures the intellectual, psychological and spiritual unfolding of the child. The concerned parent and teacher will find a multitude of problems clearly addressed in this…

Joseph Chilton Pearce

I don't have any particular method, my approach is very simple. I try to understand the emotional graph of the character.

Pratik Gandhi

Image

“But young men have not only this frivolous ambition of being thought masters of execution, inciting them on the one hand, but also their natural sloth tempting them on the other. They are terrified at the prospect before them, of the toil required to attain exactness. The impetuosity of youth is disgusted at the slow approaches of a regular siege,…

Anonymous

Everything, every part that you approach has to be somehow rooted in yourself. You have to somehow root everything so that it's not just…

Judi Dench

Image

Literature transforms and intensifies ordinary language, deviates systematically from everyday speech. If you approach me at a bus stop and murmur Thou still unravished…

Terry Eagleton