Quotes About Prediction

It follows that the goal of forecasting is not to see what's coming. It is to advance the interests of the forecaster and the forecaster's tribe.

All models are wrong," the statistician George Box observed, "but some are useful.

Fuzzy thinking can never be proven wrong. And only when we are proven wrong so clearly that we can no longer deny it to ourselves will we adjust our mental models of the world—producing a clearer picture of reality. Forecast, measure, revise: it is the surest path to seeing better.

In one of history's great ironies, scientists today know vastly more than their colleagues a century ago, and possess vastly more data-crunching power, but they are much less confident in the prospects for perfect predictability.

I put the charm bracelet away in the purse and return it to my jewel case. I don't need a spell to foresee the future; I am going to make it happen.

I will make my own future, not predict it. I don't need a charm to tell me what I hope will happen. I throw the gold charm which is like a wedding ring up in the air and catch it before it falls. This is my choice. I don't need magic to reveal my desire. The enchantment is already done: I am in love; I am sworn to a man of earth; I am not going to give this man up. All I have to do is consider how we can stay together.

Più in generale, l'esperienza ci aveva già dimostrato infinite volte la vanità di ogni previsione: a che scopo travagliarsi per prevedere l'avvenire, quando nessun nostro sforzo, nessuna nostra parola lo avrebbe potuto minimamente influenzare?

Le differenze possono essere piccole, ma portare a conseguenze radicalmente diverse, come gli aghi degli scambi; il mestiere del chimico consiste in buona parte nel guardarsi da queste differenze, nel conoscerle da vicino, nel prevederne gli effetti. Non solo il mestiere del chimico.

When I want to know your opinion, I'll consult your entrails.

I]t is simply impossible to predict the effects of lifetime exposure to chemical and physical agents that are not part of the biological experience of man.

He'd always pitied those ensnared in the time periods he studied—people captured in resin, their fates sealed by their inability to see what was coming. The greatest curse, he'd thought, was to be stuck in one's own time—and the greatest power was to see beyond its horizons.

The problem with omens is that they never come with an illustrated pamphlet explaining what they mean.

We are destined to be together forever. We have a card that says so. Gypsy Mummy is never wrong.

That's really specific, ma'am. For a prediction, I mean. It's not a prediction. It's not? Then what is it? It's what is.

perhaps a warning.

Sometimes, however, common sense required paranoia. It seemed that the political elites were striving, with admiration for George Orwell and rare unanimity, to ensure that the totalitarian state in the novel 1984 would be realized no later than fifty years after the author predicted. In

It seemed that the political elites were striving, with admiration for George Orwell and rare unanimity, to ensure that the totalitarian state in the novel 1984 would be realized no later than fifty years after the author predicted.

Certain events are lightly sketched on the future and can be erased. Others are woven into the fabric of all that is to come and resist being unraveled.

Some doctors who specialize in the care of geriatric patients have told me that there are rare occasions when they have heard a very old, sick, and frail person announce, "I'm going to die today." And the individual did. But it doesn't happen often.

I knew an old lady in the Highlands once, who said the lines in your hand don't predict your life; they reflect it.

To be polite about it, I'll make a bit of a prediction for you, and say your husband isna like to stray far from your bed.

You can never assume that something is going to do well.

Astrology is interesting but not very accurate. It's a science I don't trust very much.

I still say save your money, don't waste your money or time running against Donald Trump in 2020 because you're not going to beat him.