Quotes from Charles Babbage

Perhaps it would be better for science, that all criticism should be avowed.

The Council of the Royal Society is a collection of men who elect each other to office and then dine together at the expense of this society to praise each other over wine and give each other medals.

I wish to God these calculations had been executed by steam.

If we look at the fact, we shall find that the great inventions of the age are not, with us at least, always produced in universities.

The possessors of wealth can scarcely be indifferent to processes which, nearly or remotely have been the fertile source of their possessions.

In England, the profession of the law is that which seems to hold out the strongest attraction to talent, from the circumstance, that in it ability, coupled with exertion, even though unaided by patronage, cannot fail of obtaining reward.

Surely, if knowledge is valuable, it can never be good policy in a country far wealthier than Tuscany, to allow a genius like Mr. Dalton's, to be employed in the drudgery of elementary instruction.

It will be readily admitted, that a degree conferred by an university, ought to be a pledge to the public that he who holds it possesses a certain quantity of knowledge.

Another mode of accumulating power arises from lifting a weight and then allowing it to fall.

At each increase of knowledge, as well as on the contrivance of every new tool, human labour becomes abridged.

What is there in a name? It is merely an empty basket, until you put something into it.

For one person who is blessed with the power of invention, many will always be found who have the capacity of applying principles.

The first steps in the path of discovery, and the first approximate measures, are those which add most to the existing knowledge of mankind.

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.

A tool is usually more simple than a machine; it is generally used with the hand, whilst a machine is frequently moved by animal or steam power.

The fatigue produced on the muscles of the human frame does not altogether depend on the actual force employed in each effort, but partly on the frequency with which it is exerted.

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.

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.

There is, however, another purpose to which academies contribute. When they consist of a limited number of persons, eminent for their knowledge, it becomes an object of ambition to be admitted on their list.

The difference between a tool and a machine is not capable of very precise distinction; nor is it necessary, in a popular explanation of those terms, to limit very strictly their acceptation.

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.

Telegraphs are machines for conveying information over extensive lines with great rapidity.

In mathematics we have long since drawn the rein, and given over a hopeless race.

The accumulation of skill and science which has been directed to diminish the difficulty of producing manufactured goods, has not been beneficial to that country alone in which it is concentrated; distant kingdoms have participated in its advantages.