“The Greeks got into Troy by trying, my pretties; everything's done by trying.”
ἐς Τροίαν πειρώμενοι ἦνθον ᾿Αχαιοί,
καλλίστα παίδων: πείρᾳ θην πάντα τελεῖται.
Idyll 15, line 61; translation by A. S. F. Gow, from Theocritus ([1950] 1952) vol. 1, p. 113.
Idylls
Original
ἐς Τροίαν πειρώμενοι ἦνθον ᾿Αχαιοί, καλλίστα παίδων: πείρᾳ θην πάντα τελεῖται.
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Theocritus 8
ancient greek poetRelated quotes
“Everything I've ever done that's valuable is something I was afraid to try.”
Source: Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
as quoted by Robin Beaver in Making 'one great discovery after another' - Marlan Scully embraced science as fervently as his love for the state, Made in Wyoming http://www.madeinwyoming.net/profiles/scully.php (2006)
“My ignorance is trying to flatter me that I know everything.”
“And I'm never gonna tell you everything I gotta tell you
But I know I've got to give it a try.”
Making Love out of Nothing at All (1983)
Context: I know just how to fake it
And I know just how to scheme
I know just when to face the truth
And then I know just when to dream.
And I know just where to touch you
And I know just what to prove
I know when to pull you closer
And I know when to let you loose.
And I know the night is fading
And I know the time's gonna fly
And I'm never gonna tell you everything I gotta tell you
But I know I've got to give it a try.
And I know the roads to riches
And I know the ways to fame
I know all the rules and then I know how to break'em
And then I always know the name of the game
But I don't know how to leave you
And I'll never let you fall
And I don't know how you do it
Making love out of nothing at all.
Source: Beatrice Mtetwa HRD Zimbabwean Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/profile/beatrice-mtetwa
Page 205.
The Thought Gang (1994)
As quoted in The Journal of Imaging Science and Technology, Vol. 37, No. 3 (1992), p. 537
Context: There's a tremendous popular fallacy which holds that significant research can be carried out by trying things. Actually it is easy to show that in general no significant problem can be solved empirically, except for accidents so rare as to be statistically unimportant. One of my jests is to say that we work empirically — we use bull's eye empiricism. We try everything, but we try the right thing first!