...Propose to a man any principle, or an instrument, however admirable, and you will observe the whole effort is directed to find a difficulty, a def… - Allan G Bromley

the greatest obstacles to the acquisition of knowledge — inasmuch as he possesses the consciousness that he does not know — and he has the moral courage to avow it.

Em duas ocasiões me perguntaram: 'Diga-nos, Sr. Babbage, se introduzirmos dados errados na máquina, ainda sairão respostas corretas?' Eu não consigo compreender o tipo de confusão de ideias que motivou tal questão.

Propose to an Englishman any principle, or any instrument, however admirable, and you will observe that the whole effort of the English mind is directed to find a difficulty, a defect, or an impossibility in it. If you speak to him of a machine for peeling a potato, he will pronounce it impossible: if you peel a potato with it before his eyes, he will declare it useless, because it will not slice a pineapple.