"Why do we do basic research? To learn about ourselves."

--

Walter Gilbert

#Research Quotes

“Placing a time limit on affirmative action would in all likelihood blunt the orchestrated politics of controversy that now bedevils it. And thinking about phasing it into a class-based entitlement program may at long last bring Americans around to a consideration of the growing inequality that threatens the harmony of our democracy far more than the alarmist cry of 'racial division.'”
“It must be nice to be so strong and to think it's because you're so good, that you live right and eat right, so you deserve your health and happiness. But there is such a thing as luck, and there's more bad luck than good in this world.”

Source : Laura Lippman (2015). “Baltimore Blues”, p.146, Faber & Faber
“Why havenâ€™t you asked me how I do my tricks?â€ Celia asks, once they have reached the point where she is certain he is not simply being polite about the matter. â€œBecause I do not wish to know,â€ he says. â€œI prefer to remain unenlightened, to better remain in the dark.”
“Here is my advice as we begin the century that will lead to 2081. First, guard the freedom of ideas at all costs. Be alert that dictators have always played on the natural human tendency to blame others and to oversimplify. And don't regard yourself as a guardian of freedom unless you respect and preserve the rights of people you disagree with to free, public, unhampered expression.”
“There is a thrill of vulnerability at all airshows. There is no way of making everything completely safe. When the machines are being thrashed to capacity and the pilots are flying at their limits to dazzle, things are bound to go wrong sometimes. There have been some historic disasters, but the danger is a part of the attraction.”
“Republicans many times can't get the words 'equality of opportunity' out of their mouths. Their lips do not form that way.”
“The aims of these three groups are entirely irreconcilable. The aim of the High is to remain where they are. The aim of the Middle is to change places with the High. The aim of the Low, when they have an aim-for it is an abiding characteristic of the Low that they are too much crushed by drudgery to be more than intermittently conscious of anything outside their daily lives -is to abolish all distinctions and create a society in which all men shall be equal.”
“TARP is funded by taxpayers, so there are many rules about how that money can and can't be used. The result: GM spends an awful lot of time checking in with the people who administer TARP over everything from hiring to executive compensation and management. For a global company, that adds up to a lot of distraction.”

Source : "Ed Whitacre: Time for 'Government Motors' to Hit the Road" by Edward Whitacre, Jr., www.wsj.com. September 19, 2012.

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