Scientific knowledge scarcely exists amongst the higher classes of society. The discussion in the Houses of Lords or of Commons, which arise on the o… - Allan G Bromley

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 a man any principle, or an instrument, however admirable, and you will observe the whole effort 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.

Forget this world and all its troubles and if possible its multitudinous Charlatans — everything in short but the Enchantress of Numbers.