Quotes about speed

„I am not a speed reader. I am a speed understander.“

—  Isaac Asimov American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, known for his works of science fiction and popular … 1920 - 1992

„When travel outside the city is desired, computer-guided vehicles for land, sea, air, space and beyond can transport passengers and freight. For rapid movement of passengers on land across via ducts, bridges, and tunnels, high-speed mag-lev trains span great distances and will efficiently replace most aircraft transportation.“

—  Jacque Fresco American futurist and self-described social engineer 1916 - 2017

Designing the Future (2007)

„Reaching your destination is more important than the direction and speed at which you travel.“

—  RJ Intindola (Gandolfo)

1975

„You're mind is working at its best when you're being paranoid.
You explore every avenue and possibility of your situation
at high speed with total clarity.“

—  Banksy pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, and painter

Source: Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall

„You can kill people with compassion. That's the Freudian Oedipal situation. Think about working in a nursing home. There's a rule of thumb that we can use as a guide when interacting with people in general. It is this: Do not do anything for anyone that they can do themselves. You just steal it from them. Imagine that you're working with elderly people. It might be easier to do something for them than to let them struggle through it. You just speed their demise by taking away their last vestiges of independence. People do the same thing with kids. The answer is: struggle through it. When people struggle through things on their own, using their own abilities - they learn how to live. You have to be one heard-hearted sonofabitch to allow this, but it's what's best for people. Think about that. What's the alternative? If we cater to people all the time, then we end up becoming a major cause of them becoming people who are always catered to. This is an incredibly important lesson in the triumph of fostering independence over casual compassion.“

—  Jordan Peterson Canadian clinical psychologist, cultural critic, and professor of psychology 1962

Concepts

„Timing beats speed…precision beats power.“

—  Conor McGregor Irish mixed martial artist and boxer 1988

UFC 194 post-fight press conference https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLwsbBqbw4LprA5DYSMWVLeeLNdwYhWRRK&v=YdKawskqoRo (December 2015) Ultimate Fighting Championship, Zuffa, LLC
2010s, 2015

„My point is that you cannot force social change at a speed that it cannot go. Social change is evolutionary, not revolutionary. Deep social change takes time.“

—  Camille Paglia American writer 1947

Playboy interview (May 1995)
Context: My point is that you cannot force social change at a speed that it cannot go. Social change is evolutionary, not revolutionary. Deep social change takes time. And slowly the culture is changing. The MTV generation is far more tolerant, and that tolerance is growing.

„Everybody seems to think I'm lazy
I don't mind, I think they're crazy.
Running everywhere at such a speed
Till they find there's no need.“

—  John Lennon English singer and songwriter 1940 - 1980

„It is said that as many days as there are in the whole journey, so many are the men and horses that stand along the road, each horse and man at the interval of a day’s journey; and these are stayed neither by snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness from accomplishing their appointed course with all speed.“

—  Herodotus, book Histories

Book 8, Ch. 98
variant: Not snow, no, nor rain, nor heat, nor night keeps them from accomplishing their appointed courses with all speed. (Book 8, Ch. 98)
Paraphrase: "Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" ”
Appears carved over entrance to Central Post Office building in New York City.
The Histories

„Speed is not part of the true Way of strategy.“

—  Miyamoto Musashi Japanese martial artist, writer, artist 1584 - 1645

Go Rin No Sho (1645), The Wind Book
Context: Speed is not part of the true Way of strategy. Speed implies that things seem fast or slow, according to whether or not they are in rhythm. Whatever the Way, the master of strategy does not appear fast.

„Nothing travels faster than the speed of light, with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws.“

—  Douglas Adams, book Mostly Harmless

Variant: Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws.
Source: Mostly Harmless

„This bounded terminal speed will be called the maximum that such a heavy body can naturally attain through the air“

—  Galileo Galilei Italian mathematician, physicist, philosopher and astronomer 1564 - 1642

Salviati, Day Four, 278-279 Stillman Drake translation (1974)
Dialogues and Mathematical Demonstrations Concerning Two New Sciences (1638)
Context: The speed of the ball—thanks to opposition from the air—will not go on increasing forever. Rather, what will happen is seen in bodies of very little weight falling through no great distance; I mean, a reduction to equable motion, which will occur also in a lead or iron ball after the descent of some thousands of braccia. This bounded terminal speed will be called the maximum that such a heavy body can naturally attain through the air...

„Birds are the most accomplished aeronauts the world has ever seen. They fly high and low, at great speed, and very slowly. And always with extraordinary precision and control.“

—  David Attenborough British broadcaster and naturalist 1926

Opening narration
The Life of Birds (1998)

„Speed has never killed anyone. Suddenly becoming stationary, that's what gets you.“

—  Jeremy Clarkson English broadcaster, journalist and writer 1960

Variant: Speed has never killed anyone, suddenly becoming stationary… that’s what gets you.

„The horse carries the rider with power and speed. But the rider controls the horse. Talent carries the artist to great heights with power and speed. But the artist directs his talent. That is the element of 'consciousness', of 'calculation' in the work – or whatever else one chooses to call it.“

—  Wassily Kandinsky Russian painter 1866 - 1944

Source: 1916 -1920, Autobiography', 1918, p. 31

„People whose history and future were threatened each day by extinction considered that it was only by divine intervention that they were able to live at all. I find it interesting that the meanest life, the poorest existence, is attributed to God's will, but as human beings become more affluent, as their living standard and style begin to ascend the material scale, God descends the scale of responsibility at a commensurate speed.“

—  Maya Angelou, book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Source: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

„I began to realize how important it was to be an enthusiast in life. If you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it full speed ahead. Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it and above all become passionate about it. Lukewarm is no good. Hot is no good, either. White hot and passionate is the only thing to be.“

—  Roald Dahl, book My Uncle Oswald

Source: My Uncle Oswald (1979)

„Momentum may be roughly described as quantity motion. A body moving at a speed of say twenty an hour, has a certain quantity of motion. If the body goes forty miles an hour there is twice as motion; or if twice as much matter goes twenty miles hour, there is also twice as much motion. Momentum is measured by the quantity of matter moving at a rate mass \times velocity.“

—  William Kingdon Clifford English mathematician and philosopher 1845 - 1879

"Energy and Force" (Mar 28, 1873)

„One of the reasons I was asked to do the portrait [of president J. F. Kennedy, winter of 1962–63, destined for the Truman Library, Independence, Mo] is that, with luck, I can start and finish a life-size portrait in one sitting (after a couple of preliminary sessions of sketches to determine the pose and familiarize myself with my impression of the sitter). After years of working on my portraits (mostly of friends) for months at a time, I found myself getting bogged down in overly conscientious effort and discovered that by working swiftly I could enter into an almost passive relationship to the canvas and get closer to the essential gesture of the sitter. However, working at top speed this way, I require the absolute immobility of the sitter. This was impossible with President Kennedy because of his extreme restlessness: he read papers, talked on the phone, jotted down notes, crossed and uncrossed his legs, shifted from one arm of the chair to another, always in action at rest. So I had to find a new approach.“

—  Elaine de Kooning American painter 1918 - 1989

n.p.
1950 - 1971