Howard H. Aiken Quotes

“Don't worry about people stealing an idea. If it's original, you will have to ram it down their throats.”

Howard H. Aiken

As quoted in Portraits in Silicon (1987) by Robert Slater
As quoted in A Computer Science Reader : Selections from Abacus (1988) by Eric A. Weiss, p. 404
Variant: Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats.

“The desire to economize time and mental effort in arithmetical computations, and to eliminate human liability to error is probably as old as the science of arithmetic itself.”

Howard H. Aiken

"Proposed Automatic Calculating Machine" (1937)

“Do not worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you will to ram them down people´s throats.”

Howard H. Aiken

“Originally one thought that if there were a half dozen large computers in this country, hidden away in research laboratories, this would take care of all requirements we had throughout the country.”

Howard H. Aiken

1952. Quoted in I. Bernard Cohen: Howard Aiken: Portrait of a Computer Pioneer. 1999. MIT Press. p. 292. And I. Bernard Cohen: IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 20.3 pp. 27–33. (1998)