“Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
X, 38
Meditations (c. 121–180 AD), Book X
Context: In contemplating thyself never include the vessel which surrounds thee, and these instruments which are attached about it. For they are like an ax, differing only in this, that they grow to the body. For indeed there is no more use in these parts without the cause which moves and checks them than in the weaver's shuttle, and the writer's pen, and the driver's whip.
“Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.”
Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born physicist and founder of the theory of relativity
“Authority without wisdom is like a heavy axe without an edge, fitter to bruise than polish.”
Anne Bradstreet (1612–1672) Anglo-American poet
12.
Meditations Divine and Moral (1664)
Artemus Ward (1834–1867) American writer
The Shakers. <br class="br"> Artemus Ward, His Book http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/eafbin2/toccer-eaf?id=Weaf482&tag=public&data=/www/data/eaf2/private/texts&part=0 (1862)
“So here the twins were laid low at Aeneas' hands,
down they crashed like lofty pine trees axed.”
V. 559–560 (tr. Robert Fagles).
Iliad (c. 750 BC)
Gene Amdahl (1922–2015) American physicist
Source: Validity of the single processor approach... (1967), p. 483
Charles Stross The Laundry Files
Source: The Laundry Files, The Fuller Memorandum (2010), Chapter 7, “Beer and Tea” (p. 111)