The rose does not bloom without thorns. True, but would that the thorns did not outlive the rose..

I was lucky because logarithmic plots are a device of the devil..

Only fools, liars, and charlatans predict earthquakes.

According to Democritus, truth lies at the bottom of a well, the water of which serves as a mirror in which objects may be reflected. I have heard, h….

I would walk - not run - to the nearest seismograph..

If one introduces the concept of energy of an earthquake then that is a theoretically derived quantity..

it is good to have measured myself, to recognize my limitations..

My main point today is that usually one gets what one expects, but very rarely in the way one expected it..

Most loss of life and property has been due to the collapse of antiquated and unsafe structures, mostly of brick and other masonry. ... There is prog….

In every area of the world where there is earthquake risk, there are still many buildings of this type; it is very frustrating to try to get rid of t….

As seismologists gained more experience from earthquake records, it became obvious that the problem could not be reduced to a single peak acceleratio….

No joy in nature is so sublimely affecting as the joy of a mother at the good fortune of a child..

Spring makes everything young again except man..

Don't wait for extraordinary circumstance to do good; try to use ordinary situations..

The most remarkable feature about the magnitude scale was that it worked at all and that it could be extended on a worldwide basis. It was originally….

I have a sense of humor; but over the years that sense has developed one blind spot. I can no longer laugh at ignorance or stupidity. Those are our c….

There is nothing more beautiful than cheerfulness in an old face, and among country people it is always a sign of a well-regulated life..

Magnitude may be compared to the power output in kilowatts of a [radio] broadcasting station; local intensity, on the Mercalli or similar scale, is t….

Lately there have been complaints that the use of the magnitude scale is confusing, or at least the reporting of magnitudes in the newspapers 'confus….

The usual designation of the magnitude scale to my name does less than justice to the great part that Dr. Gutenberg played in extending the scale to ….

The laboratory routine, which involves a great deal of measurement, filing, and tabulation, is either my lifeline or my chief handicap, I hardly know….