Quotes about Research

Never memorize something that you can look up.

When a doctoral student at Princeton asked, "What is there left in the world for original dissertation research?" Albert Einstein replied, "Find out about prayer. Somebody must find out about prayer.

The field of research in the doctrine of civil resistance is necessarily limited, as the occasions for civil resistance in a man's life must not be frequent.

Concerning the Investigation of Super-History' (Urgeschichte) (pp. 20—8)

I was inspired to spend an entire year - my 65th year - reading, researching, and meditating on Lao-tzu's messages, practicing them and ultimately writing down these insights as I felt Lao-tzu wanted us to know them.

There is the claim that Noah and his family were unskilled at shipbuilding and so the feat of building the ark of such a size would be impossible. The Bible reveals that Noah had 500 years under his belt before he was given the instruction to build the ark. Unlike shipbuilders in the ancient world (post-Flood) or even up through the Age of Exploration (~a.d. 1900), few would have a resume such as Noah had! Noah also had 50—75 years (estimate) to research and build the ark.

The duty of the historian is not to make the facts, but to discover them, and then to construct his theory wide enough to give them all comfortable room.

This is not psychoanalysis. It is history.

Books to judicious compilers, are useful; to particular arts and professions, they are absolutely necessary; to men of real science, they are tools: but more are tools to them.

Another challenge in making strategic meetings work is the failure to do research and preparation ahead of time. The quality of a strategic discussion, and the decision that results from it, are improved greatly by a little preliminary work. This eliminates the all-too-common reliance on anecdotal decision making. The key to ensuring that preparation occurs is to let team members know as far in advance as possible what issues will be discussed during the Monthly or Ad Hoc Strategic.

The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading, in order to write; a man will turn over half a library to make one book.

prayer is to religion what original research is to science