John W. Campbell famous quotes

Last updated: Sep 5, 2024

It was the law that if a white man was caught trying to educate a Negro slave, he was liable to prosecution entailing a fine of fifty dollars and a jail sentence. . . Our ignorance was the greatest hold the South had on us. We knew we could run away, but what then?
-- John W. Campbell

#Running #Ignorance #Men
Science is not a sacred cow-but there are a large number of would-be sacred cowherds busily devoting quantities of time, energy and effort to the task of making it one, so they can be sacred cowherds.
-- John W. Campbell

#Science #Numbers #Effort
Man studied birds for centuries, trying to learn how to make a machine to fly like them. He never did do the trick; his final success came when he broke away entirely and tried new methods.
-- John W. Campbell

#Men #Bird #Trying
History does not always repeat itself. Sometimes it just yells, 'Can't you remember anything I told you?' and lets fly with a club.
-- John W. Campbell

#Doe #Clubs #Remember
We presuppose two things: that there is yet to be learned infinitely more than is now known, and that man can learn it.
-- John W. Campbell

#Learning #Men #Two
Immunity corrupts; absolute immunity corrupts absolutely.
-- John W. Campbell

#Absolutes #Immunity
Write me a creature that thinks as well as a man or better than a man, but not like a man.
-- John W. Campbell

#Writing #Men #Thinking
Never accept the initial premise of the opposition.
-- John W. Campbell

#Assessment #Accepting #Initials
That's the trouble with languages. They have to be learned.
-- John W. Campbell

#Statistics #Language #Trouble
No literature is sound, no philosophy of action workable, if it doesn't take a hard look at itself.
-- John W. Campbell

#Philosophy #Sound #Looks
Generally, a desirable, practically attainable idea, suggested in prophecy, has a chance of forcing itself into reality by its very existence.
-- John W. Campbell

#Reality #Ideas #Chance
Pioneering basically amounts to finding new and more horrible ways to die
-- John W. Campbell

#Way #Horrible #Findings
There's nothing quite so stultifying as having someone around who has all the answers-and gives them to you.
-- John W. Campbell

#Giving #Answers #Statistics
Too darned good a machine can be a menace, not a help.
-- John W. Campbell

#Machines #Statistics #Helping

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