“It is squalid sins like carelessness, idleness, won't-learn-and-don't-need-to-ask, you-can't-tell-me-anything-about-my-job, pride, jealousy and greed that kill people.”

— J.E. Gordon

Source: Structures (or, Why Things Don't Fall Down) (1978), Chapter 15, A Chapter of accidents
Context: In the course of a long professional life spent, or misspent, in the study of the strengths of materials and structures, I have had cause to examine a lot of accidents, many of them fatal. I have been forced to the conclusion that very few accidents just "happen" in a morally neutral way. Nine out of ten accidents are caused, not by more or less abstruse technical effects, but by old-fashioned human sin — often verging on plain wickedness. Of course I do not mean the more gilded and juicy sins like deliberate murder, large-scale fraud, or Sex. It is squalid sins like carelessness, idleness, won't-learn-and-don't-need-to-ask, you-can't-tell-me-anything-about-my-job, pride, jealousy and greed that kill people.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "It is squalid sins like carelessness, idleness, won't-learn-and-don't-need-to-ask, you-can't-tell-me-anything-about-my-…" by J.E. Gordon?

J.E. Gordon photo

J.E. Gordon7

Materials scientist 1913–1998

Related quotes

“…There’s two sides of the coin: One where people don't expect you to do anything and won't let you do anything because they think you don't know how, and then the other side is when you're fucking up but they won't tell you because you're a girl. Then you don’t learn.”

Esperanza Spalding (1984) American jazz bassist and singer

On how recording in the studio can be a double-edged sword in “Esperanza Spalding: Insubordinate by Nature” https://pitchfork.com/features/interview/9830-esperanza-spalding-insubordinate-by-nature/ in Pitchfork (2016 Mar 8)

“My thighs have been involved in many accidents,
And now I can't get insured,
And I don't need to be lured by you.
My cunt is built like a wound that won't heal,
And now you don't have to ask
Because you know how I feel.”

Ani DiFranco (1970) musician and activist

Out of Habit
Song lyrics

“If you don't tell people about your success, they probably won't know about it.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

Trump: How to Get Rich (2004), p. xiii
2000s

“You can ask me anything you like about my work, but I'll never talk about myself.”

P. L. Travers (1899–1996) Australian-British novelist, actress and journalist

As quoted by Valerie Lawson, in an interview: "The Mystic Life of P.L. Travers" (7 May 2003) http://www.abc.net.au/rn/relig/ark/stories/s844311.htm

“I've killed priests before, and another priest sold me an indulgence for the killings, so don't think I fear you or your Church. There's no sin that can't be bought off, no pardon that can't be purchased.”

Bernard Cornwell The Grail Quest

Sir William Douglas, to Bernard de Taillebourg of the Inquisition, p. 17
The Grail Quest, Vagabond (2002)

“I was in the middle of a dream about garbage cans and frogs - don't ask, and I won't tell.”

Patricia Briggs book Bone Crossed

Source: Bone Crossed

“You ask for her secret, though you might not know that's what you're about; and she can't tell you without learning it herself. And she wants not to learn that secret.”

John Crowley book Engine Summer

Engine Summer (1979), chapter 3.2

“And they don't really know even what they're talkin' about
And I can't image what empty heads can achieve
Leave me alone, don't want your promises no more
'Cos rock & roll is my religion and my law
Won't ever change, may think it's strange
You can't kill rock & roll, it's here to stay”

Ozzy Osbourne (1948) English heavy metal vocalist and songwriter

You Can't Kill Rock and Roll, written by Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhoads and Bob Daisley.
Song lyrics, Diary of a Madman (1981)

“I tell young people who ask me about their careers, "Wake up on Saturday and ask yourself, Which job would I go to right now? Then choose that one." Because what it tells you is that you're going to your passion; your passion is your work. And I feel that way about my work.”

Regina E. Dugan (1963) American businesswoman, inventor, and technology developer

Fast Company interview (2011)

“If I've learned anything in my life, it's that God has the habit of asking you to do the very thing you think you can't do.”

Steve Maraboli (1975)

Source: Life, the Truth, and Being Free (2010), p. 123

Related topics