You will never stub your toe standing still. The faster you go, the more chance there is of stubbing your toe, but the more chance you have of getting somewhere.
Charles KetteringRead
I often say that research is a way of finding out what you are going to do when you can't keep on doing what you are doing now.
Interpretation
Research helps identify new paths when current methods become unsustainable.
This quote by Charles Kettering suggests that research is essential for innovation and adaptation. It highlights the idea that when existing practices are no longer viable, research provides the necessary insights to explore new alternatives and solutions, emphasizing the importance of continuous learning and inquiry in our lives.
In practice
A speaker at a conference on the importance of adaptability in business might use this quote.
You will never stub your toe standing still. The faster you go, the more chance there is of stubbing your toe, but the more chance you have of getting somewhere.
It is the 'follow through' that makes the great difference between ultimate success and failure, because it is so easy to stop.
When I was research head of General Motors and wanted a problem solved, I'd place a table outside the meeting room with a sign: "Leave slide rules here." If I didn't do that, I'd find someone reaching for his slide rule. Then he'd be on his feet saying, "Boss, you can't do it."
A research problem is not solved by apparatus; it is solved in a man's head.
My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there.
People think of the inventor as a screwball, but no one ever asks the inventor what he thinks of other people.
The reading of books, what is it but conversing with the wisest men of all ages and all countries.
My filmmaking education consisted of finding out what filmmakers I liked were watching, then seeing those films. I learned the technical stuff from books and magazines, and with the new technology you can watch entire movies accompanied by audio commentary from the director. You can learn more from John Sturges' audio track on the 'Bad Day at Black Rock' laserdisc than you can in 20 years of film school. Film school is a complete con, because the information is there if you want it.
Let the children...be carefully instructed in the principles and obligations of the Christian religion. This is the most essential part of education.
Our popular economics writers, however, are not in the business of giving their readers a ringside seat on the research action; with no exception I can think of, they use their books to do an end run around the normal structure of scholarship, to preach ideas that few serious economists share. Often, these ideas are not just at odds with the professional consensus; they are demonstrably wrong, and sometimes terminally silly. But they sound good to the unwary reader.
If intellectual curiosity, professional pride, and ambition are the dominant incentives to research, then assuredly no one has a fairer chance of gratifying them than a mathematician.
As long as you're just smart enough to do a job and just dumb enough to swallow what they feed you, you're gonna be alright. But if you go beyond that then you're gonna have these grave doubts that give you stomach problems, headachesmake you want to go out and do something else. So, I believe that schools mechanically and very specifically try and breed out any hint of creative thought in the kids that are coming out.
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