The Quotation IndexThe trusted reference for quotations and the sources behind them
Tag Tag Problem solving
I think that to keep trying new solutions is the way to do everything.
Richard Feynman The Meaning of It All · 1998

Quotes

“Don’t get enamored with the complexities you have learned to live with (be they of your own making or imported). The lurking suspicion that something could be simplified is the world’s richest source of rewarding challenges.”

Edsger Dijkstra · Advice to a Young Scientist, c. 1989 · Primary source

“The thing to do is not to get scared, but to learn.”

Ayn Rand · Atlas Shrugged, 1957 · Primary source

“Computer programming is like doing crossword puzzles, and being paid for it.”

Tony Hoare · Computer Science, 1971 · Primary source

“Most problems in real life are poorly understood, in that the real problem is often something different from what it is orginally thought to be.”

Tony Hoare · Computer Science, 1971 · Primary source

“Our problems are manmade—therefore, they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.”

John F. Kennedy · Commencement address at American University, 1963 · Primary source

“A problem thoroughly understood is half solved.”

Charlie Munger · Daily Journal Corporation Annual Meeting, 2020 · Primary source

“There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.”

Henry David Thoreau · Walden, 1849 · Primary source

“Technical people love to discuss technical problems with technical people who might have an opinion or a suggestion that could be useful.”

Richard Feynman · What Do You Care What Other People Think?, 1986 · Primary source

“The tools we use have a profound (and devious!) influence on our thinking habits, and, therefore, on our thinking abilities.”

Edsger Dijkstra · How Do We Tell Truths That Might Hurt?, 1975 · Primary source

“Point of view is worth 80 IQ points.”

Alan Kay · Alan Kay’s talk at Creative Think seminar, 1982 · Secondary source

“A basic rule of mathematical life: if the universe hands you a hard problem, try to solve an easier instead, and hope the simple version is close enough to the original problem that the universe doesn’t object.”

Jordan Ellenberg · How Not to Be Wrong, 2015 · Primary source

“Annoyance, as we know, is one of the great spurs to technical progress.”

Jordan Ellenberg · How Not to Be Wrong, 2015 · Primary source

“Invert, always invert.”

Carl Jacobi · No reliable source

Works

Richard Feynman · 1985
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!

A collection of autobiographical stories about Feynman’s scientific career, travels, experiments, practical jokes, and persistent curiosity about how things work.

Read summary·Explore 6 quotes
Edsger Dijkstra · 1996
Elegance and Effective Reasoning

A course outline presenting elegance as practical simplicity and examining how it supports effective reasoning, design and problem selection.

Read summary·Explore 1 quotes

Related Tags

Simplicity 35 Perspective 21 Learning 19 Curiosity 19 Adaptation 17 Problem-solving 15 Understanding 15 Complexity 15 Fear 12 Human potential 10 Peace 9 Experimentation 9 Reasoning 8 Programming languages 7 Programming 4 Enjoyment 4 Work 4 Design 4 Social reform 4 Research 4 Mental models 4 Improvement 4 Manhattan Project 4 Elegance 4 Effective reasoning 4 Analysis 3 Human agency 3 Clear thinking 3 Simplification 3 Technical progress 3 Scientific curiosity 3 Collective responsibility 2 Root causes 2 Iteration 2 Trial and error 2 Ralph Leighton 2 Puzzles 1 Inversion 1 Mathematical method 1 Moral action 1 Systemic change 1 Technical collaboration 1 Peer discussion 1 Engineering judgement 1 Knowledge sharing 1 Tools and thought 1 Mental habits 1 Intellectual habits 1 Reframing 1 Insight 1 Approximation 1 Mathematical modelling 1 Frustration 1 Los Alamos 1