“Very little is 100% true or 100% untrue – most beliefs exist on a spectrum of probability. Therefore, learning to think in terms of probabilities instead of absolutes may be one of the most effective upgrades to your thinking.”

—  Unknown author

Last update April 19, 2022. History

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Leó Szilárd photo

“Science is progressing at such a rapid rate that when you make a prediction and think you are ahead of your time by 100 years you may be ahead of your time by 10 at most.”

Leó Szilárd (1898–1964) Physicist and biologist

As quoted in "Some Szilardisms on War, Fame, Peace", LIFE‎ magazine, Vol. 51, no. 9 (1 September 1961), p. 79

“My thesis, paradoxically, and a little provocatively, but nonetheless genuinely, is simply this : PROBABILITY DOES NOT EXIST.The abandonment of superstitious beliefs about the existence of Phlogiston, the Cosmic Ether, Absolute Space and Time, …, or Fairies and Witches, was an essential step along the road to scientific thinking. Probability, too, if regarded as something endowed with some kind of objective existence, is no less a misleading misconception, an illusory attempt to exteriorize or materialize our true probabilistic beliefs.”

Bruno de Finetti (1906–1985) Italian mathematician

Preface
Theory of Probability (1970)

“Probability is the mathematics of uncertainty. …many modern theories have uncertainty built into their foundations. Thus learning to think in terms of probability is essential.”

Richard Hamming (1915–1998) American mathematician and information theorist

Methods of Mathematics Applied to Calculus, Probability, and Statistics (1985)

“I still think its probably the most evil of all pursuits.”

James Jones (1921–1977) American author

On war.
Don Swaim interview (1975)
Context: I still think its probably the most evil of all pursuits.... the thing is when you're getting shot at you don't think so much about who's right and who's wrong or who's good and who's and bad... one of the first things they told you was "Forget about patriotism. That's not how you win a war. You win a war by being a vicious, merciless, mean, son-of-a-bitch." And, they try to infuse that in everybody, and I think rightly so.

Arthur Schuster photo

“Most probably some law hitherto undiscovered exists.”

Arthur Schuster (1851–1934) Anglo-German physicist

commenting the misunderstood law governing the spectral lines in light, in [Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Volume 31, Royal Society, 1881, 343]

John Gay photo

“Lest men suspect your tale untrue,
Keep probability in view.”

John Gay (1685–1732) English poet and playwright

Fable, The Painter who pleased Nobody and Everybody
Fables (1727)

Makoto Shinkai photo

“I think most directors and people who make anime would agree that their latest film is probably the one they feel the most confident in, that they have done their best and put everything into.”

Makoto Shinkai (1973) Japanese anime director and former graphic designer

Interviewed on Anime News Network https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interview/2013-05-01/makoto-shinkai-the-garden-of-words-interview <br class="br">About The Garden of Words

“There is no one way 'correct' way of becoming a writer. The very quirks and eccentricities which a workshop will probably discourage may in fact be the aspiring writer's most valuable capital in the longer term. Would be literary Samsons should be wary of enrolling in a hairdressing school.”

Dennis O'Driscoll (1954–2012) Irish poet, critic

Poetry Quotes

Stephen Harper photo

“It may not be true, but it's legendary that if you're like all Americans, you know almost nothing except for your own country. Which makes you probably knowledgeable about one more country than most Canadians.”

Stephen Harper (1959) 22nd Prime Minister of Canada

1990s, Speech to the Council for National Policy (1997)

Anders Behring Breivik photo

“One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100 000 who have only interests. ”

Anders Behring Breivik (1979) Norwegian mass murderer

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