Some of My Favorite Quotations



General Philosophy

Some say the cup is half empty, 
while others say it is half full.
However, in my opinion both are wrong.  
The real problem is the cup is too big.

Sometimes all we need is a
new perspective on an old problem.

The most important thing is to keep the most important thing the most important thing.

Your greatest danger is letting the urgent things crowd out the important.

From Tyranny of the Urgent by Charles E. Hummel

Anyone who thinks he has all the answers 
is not quite up-to-date on all the questions.


Philosophy of Engineering

It would be well if engineering were less generally thought of ...
as the art of constructing.  In a certain important sense it is the art
of not constructing ... of doing that well with one dollar which
any bungler can do with two after a fashion.

Arthur M. Wellington (1887) 

The final solution to a problem is the one in hand when time and money run out.

The mere formulation of a problem is far more often essential than its solution, 
which may be merely a matter of mathematical or experimental skill.  
To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new 
angle requires creative imagination and marks real advances in science.

Albert Einstein

Things should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler.

Albert Einstein

An approximate solution to the right problem is more desirable 
than a precise solution to the wrong problem.

US Army


Philosophy of Geotechnical Engineering
Virtually every structure is supported by soil or rock. 
Those that aren't either fly, float, or fall over.

Richard L. Handy, 1995
Theories require assumptions which often are true only to a limited degree.  
Thus any new theoretical ideas have questionable points which can be removed
only by checks under actual conditions.  This statement holds especially true for 
theories pertaining to soil mechanics because assumptions relative to soil action 
are always more or less questionable.  Such theories may sometimes be checked 
to a limited degree by laboratory tests on small samples, but often the only final 
and satisfactory verification requires observations under actual field conditions.

Donald W. Taylor, 1948

Measure it with a micrometer, 
mark it with chalk,
cut it with an axe.

An admonition to maintain a consistent degree 
of precision throughout the analysis, design, 
and construction phases of a project.

In reality, soil mechanics is only one of the bodies of knowledge upon which the 
foundation engineer must draw.  If studied to the exclusion of other aspects of the art, 
it leads to the erroneous and dangerous impression that all problems in foundation 
engineering are susceptible of direct scientific solution.  Unfortunately, the vagaries 
of nature and the demands of economy combine to eliminate this possibility.

From Foundation Engineering by Peck, Hanson and Thornburn 

... in engineering practice, difficulties with the soils are almost exclusively due not to 
the soils themselves but to the water contained in their voids. On a planet without any 
water there would be no need for soil mechanics.

Karl Terzaghi, 1939

Boring -- see Civil Engineers
Listing in the London telephone book

Civil Engineers are No Longer Boring
Headline in a London newspaper after the telephone company agreed 
to revise its method of referring readers to drilling and sampling companies.

In soil mechanics the accuracy of computed results never exceeds that of a crude 
estimate, and the principle function of theory consists of teaching us what and 
how to observe in the field.

Karl Terzaghi, 1936

Less than 10 years ago the Foundation Committee of a well-known engineering 
society decided, at one of its meetings, that the word "settlement" should be avoided 
in public discussions, because it might disturb the peace of mind of those who are to 
be served by the engineering profession.

Karl Terzaghi, 1939


Historical

Make a large number of trial holes to find the different strata in order to be sure that 
an apparently good soil does not overlay a clay, a sandy soil, or some other soil which 
can be compressed under a load.  If the trial holes cannot be made, then the earth may 
be beaten with a wooden rafter six or eight feet long; if the sound is dry and light, and 
the soil offers resistance, then the earth is firm, but a heavy sound and poor resistance 
mean a worthless foundation.

Paraphrased from L'Architecture Pratique, a 1691 book of practical design and  
construction guidelines by the French engineer Bullet (after Heyman, 1972)

If any one be too lazy to keep his dam in proper condition, and does not keep it so; 
if then the dam breaks and all the fields are flooded, then shall he in whose dam the 
break occurred be sold for money and the money shall replace the corn which he 
has caused to be ruined.

The Code of Hammurabi, Babylon, circa 2000 BC

The wise architect should wash the excavations with the five products of the cow.
The excavation should be made at night and the bricks should be laid in the daytime.
The chief architect should distinguish the two varieties of bricks, namely stony brick 
and pure brick, and their three genders, and should fix the male bricks in the temples 
of male deities.

Manasara, a sixth-century architect (Acharya, 1980)

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