- Nov 07, 2020
Henry Petroski Quotes
Most Famous Henry Petroski Quotes of All Time!
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- Last Updated on May 30, 2021
- Long
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- Nov 07, 2020
For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by things large and small. I wanted to know what made my watch tick, my radio play, and my house stand. I wanted to know who invented the bottle cap and who designed the bridge. I guess from early on I wanted to be an engineer.
- Doing
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- Nov 07, 2020
My first book, 'To Engineer Is Human,' was prompted by nonengineer friends asking me why so many technological accidents and failures were occurring. If engineers knew what they were doing, why did bridges and buildings fall down? It was a question that I had often asked myself, and I had no easy answer.
- Long
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- Nov 07, 2020
As long as there are things to wonder about, there are stories to be written about them. That makes me happy, because writing about things seems to be my thing.
- Life
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- Nov 07, 2020
The definition of 'safe' is not strictly an engineering term; it's a societal term. Does it mean absolutely no loss of life? Does it mean absolutely no contamination with radiation? What exactly does 'safe' mean?
- Day
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- Nov 07, 2020
If I could go upstairs and write every day, I would be happy. I don't need recreation.
- Enough
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- Nov 07, 2020
It has been said, by engineers themselves, that given enough money, they can accomplish virtually anything: send men to the moon, dig a tunnel under the English Channel. There's no reason they couldn't likewise devise ways to protect infrastructure from the worst hurricanes, earthquakes and other calamities, natural and manmade.
- Change The World
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- Nov 07, 2020
As engineers, we were going to be in a position to change the world - not just study it.
- Always
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- Nov 07, 2020
Although engineers want always to make everything better, they cannot make anything perfect. This basic characteristic flaw of the products of the profession's practitioners is what drives change and makes achievement a process rather than simply a goal.
- Failure
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- Nov 07, 2020
Relying on nothing but scientific knowledge to produce an engineering solution is to invite frustration at best and failure at worst.
- Need
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- Nov 07, 2020
It is really want, rather than need, that drives the process of technological evolution.
- Luxury
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- Nov 07, 2020
Luxury, not necessity, is the mother of invention. Every artifact is somewhat wanting in its function, and that is what drives its evolution.
- Matter
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- Nov 07, 2020
No design, no matter how common or seemingly insignificant, is without its adamant critics as well as its ardent admirers.
- Important
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- Nov 07, 2020
Because every design must satisfy competing objectives, there necessarily has to be compromise among, if not the complete exclusion of, some of those objectives, in order to meet what are considered the more important of them.
- Design
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- Nov 07, 2020
Design is nothing if not decision making.
- Knowledge
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- Nov 07, 2020
The space shuttle was designed, at least in part, to broaden our knowledge of the universe. To scientists, the vehicle was a tool; to engineers, it was their creation.
- Mind
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- Nov 07, 2020