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Remember That Accumulated Knowledge, Like Accumulated Capital, Increases At Compound Interest: But It Differs From The Accumulation Of Capital In This; That The Increase Of Knowledge Produces A More Rapid Rate Of Progress, Whilst The Accumulation Of Capital Leads To A Lower Rate Of Interest. Capital Thus Checks It Own Accumulation: Knowledge Thus Accelerates Its Own Advance. Each Generation, Therefore, To Deserve Comparison With Its Predecessor, Is Bound To Add Much More Largely To The Common Stock Than That Which It Immediately Succeeds.

-Charles Babbage

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Remember That Accumulated Knowledge,

Charles Babbage

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Remember That Accumulated Knowledge, Like Accumulated Capital, Increases At Compound Interest: But It Differs From The Accumulation Of Capital In This; That The Increase Of Knowledge Produces A More Rapid Rate Of Progress, Whilst The Accumulation Of Capital Leads To A Lower Rate Of Interest. Capital Thus Checks It Own Accumulation: Knowledge Thus Accelerates Its Own Advance. Each Generation, Therefore, To Deserve Comparison With Its Predecessor, Is Bound To Add Much More Largely To The Common Stock Than That Which It Immediately Succeeds.

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Those From Whose Pocket The Salary Is Drawn, And By Whose Appointment The Officer Was Made, Have Always A Right To Discuss The Merits Of Their Officers, And Their Modes Of Exercising The Duties They Are Paid To Perform.

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Of Cooking. This Is An Art Of Various Forms, The Object Of Which Is To Give Ordinary Observations The Appearance And Character Of Those Of The Highest Degree Of Accuracy. One Of Its Numerous Processes Is To Make Multitudes Of Observations, And Out Of These To Select Only Those Which Agree, Or Very Nearly Agree. If A Hundred Observations Are Made, The Cook Must Be Very Unhappy If He Cannot Pick Out Fifteen Or Twenty Which Will Do For Serving Up.

Unless There Exist Peculiar Institutions For The Support Of Such Inquirers, Or Unless The Government Directly Interfere, The Contriver Of A Thaumatrope May Derive Profit From His Ingenuity, Whilst He Who Unravels The Laws Of Light And Vision, On Which Multitudes Of Phenomena Depend, Shall Descend Unrewarded To The Tomb.

The Economy Of Human Time Is The Next Advantage Of Machinery In Manufactures.

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At Each Increase Of Knowledge, As Well As On The Contrivance Of Every New Tool, Human Labour Becomes Abridged.

If We Define A Miracle As An Effect Of Which The Cause Is Unknown To Us, Then We Make Our Ignorance The Source Of Miracles! And The Universe Itself Would Be A Standing Miracle. A Miracle Might Be Perhaps Defined More Exactly As An Effect Which Is Not The Consequence Or Effect Of Any Known Laws Of Nature.

The Successful Construction Of All Machinery Depends On The Perfection Of The Tools Employed; And Whoever Is A Master In The Arts Of Tool-making Possesses The Key To The Construction Of All Machines... The Contrivance And Construction Of Tools Must Therefore Ever Stand At The Head Of The Industrial Arts.

It Can Happen To But Few Philosophers, And But At Distant Intervals, To Snatch A Science, Like Dalton, From The Chaos Of Indefinite Combination, And Binding It In The Chains Of Number, To Exalt It To Rank Amongst The Exact. Triumphs Like These Are Necessarily 'few And Far Between.'

No Person Will Deny That The Highest Degree Of Attainable Accuracy Is An Object To Be Desired, And It Is Generally Found That The Last Advances Towards Precision Require A Greater Devotion Of Time, Labour, And Expense, Than Those Which Precede Them.

For One Person Who Is Blessed With The Power Of Invention, Many Will Always Be Found Who Have The Capacity Of Applying Principles.

The Errors Which Arise From The Absence Of Facts Are Far More Numerous And More Durable Than Those Which Result From Unsound Reasoning Respecting True Data.

To Those Who Have Chosen The Profession Of Medicine, A Knowledge Of Chemistry, And Of Some Branches Of Natural History, And, Indeed, Of Several Other Departments Of Science, Affords Useful Assistance.

The First Steps In The Path Of Discovery, And The First Approximate Measures, Are Those Which Add Most To The Existing Knowledge Of Mankind.

In Turning From The Smaller Instruments In Frequent Use To The Larger And More Important Machines, The Economy Arising From The Increase Of Velocity Becomes More Striking.

Some Kinds Of Nails, Such As Those Used For Defending The Soles Of Coarse Shoes, Called Hobnails, Require A Particular Form Of The Head, Which Is Made By The Stroke Of A Die.

The Tastes And Pursuits Of Manhood Will Bear On Them The Traces Of The Earlier Impressions Of Our Education. It Is Therefore Not Unreasonable To Suppose That Some Portion Of The Neglect Of Science In England, May Be Attributed To The System Of Education We Pursue.

Whenever The Work Is Itself Light, It Becomes Necessary, In Order To Economize Time, To Increase The Velocity.

[in Response To Alfred Tennyson's Poem "vision Of Sin," Which Included The Line "every Moment Dies A Man, Every Moment One Is Born."] If This Were True, The Population Of The World Would Be At A Stand-still. In Truth, The Rate Of Birth Is Slightly In Excess Of Death. I Would Suggest That The Next Edition Of Your Poem Should Read: "every Moment Dies A Man, Every Moment 1 [and] 1/16 Is Born." Strictly Speaking, The Actual Figure Is So Long I Cannot Get It Into A Line, But I Believe The Figure 1 [and] 1/16 Will Be Sufficiently Accurate For Poetry.

Mr. Herschel... Brought With Him The Calculations Of The Computers, And We Commenced The Tedious Process Of Verification. After A Time Many Discrepancies Occurred, And At One Point These Discordances Were So Numerous That I Exclaimed, "i Wish To God These Calculations Had Been Executed By Steam," To Which Herschel Replied, "it Is Quite Possible."

Precedents Are Treated By Powerful Minds As Fetters With Which To Bind Down The Weak, As Reasons With Which To Mistify The Moderately Informed, And As Reeds Which They Themselves Fearlessly Break Through Whenever New Combinations And Difficult Emergencies Demand Their Highest Efforts.

He Will Also Find That The High And Independent Spirit, Which Usually Dwells In The Breast Of Those Who Are Deeply Versed In Scientific Pursuits, Is Ill Adapted For Administrative Appointments; And That Even If Successful, He Must Hear Many Things He Disapproves, And Raise No Voice Against Them.

The Half Minute Which We Daily Devote To The Winding-up Of Our Watches Is An Exertion Of Labour Almost Insensible; Yet, By The Aid Of A Few Wheels, Its Effect Is Spread Over The Whole Twenty-four Hours.

Scientific Knowledge Scarcely Exists Amongst The Higher Classes Of Society. The Discussion In The Houses Of Lords Or Of Commons, Which Arise On The Occurrence Of Any Subjects Connected With Science, Sufficiently Prove This Fact.

There Is Nothing In The Nature Of A Miracle That Should Render It Incredible:;: Its Credibility Depends Upon The Nature Of The Evidence By Which It Is Supported. An Event Of Extreme Probability Will Not Necessarily Command Our Belief Unless Upon A Sufficiency Of Proof; And So An Event Which We May Regard As Highly Improbable May Command Our Belief If It Is Sustained By Sufficient Evidence. So That The Credibility Or Incredibility Of An Event Does Not Rest Upon The Nature Of The Event Itself, But Depends Upon The Nature And Sufficiency Of The Proof Which Sustains It.

The Triumph Of The Industrial Arts Will Advance The Cause Of Civilization More Rapidly Than Its Warmest Advocates Could Have Hoped, And Contribute To The Permanent Prosperity And Strength Of The Country Far More Than The Most Splendid Victories Of Successful War.

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In Mathematics We Have Long Since Drawn The Rein, And Given Over A Hopeless Race.

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Mathematical Logic

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Great Inventions

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Trimming Consists Of Clipping Off Little Bits Here And There From Those Observations Which Differ Most In Excess From The Mean, And In Sticking Them Onto Those Which Are Too Small; A Species Of 'equitable Adjustment,' As A Radical Would Term It, Which Cannot Be Admitted In Science.

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An Object Is Frequently Not Seen, From Not Knowing How To See It, Rather Than From Any Defect Of The Organ Of Vision.

I Wish To God These Calculations Had Been Executed By Steam.

That The State Of Knowledge In Any Country Will Exert A Directive Influence On The General System Of Instruction Adopted In It, Is A Principle Too Obvious To Require Investigation.

Perhaps The Most Important Principle On Which The Economy Of A Manufacture Depends, Is The Division Of Labour Amongst The Persons Who Perform The Work.

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