Quotes About Probability

Probability is a powerful and troublesome test; and it is by this troublesome standard that a large portion of historical evidence is sifted. Consistency is no less pertinacious and exacting in its demands.

To form correct views of individuals we must regard them as forming parts of a great whole — we must measure them by their relation to the mass of beings by whom they are surrounded, and, in contemplating the incidents in their lives or condition which tradition has handed down to us, we must rather consider the general bearing of the whole narrative, than the respective probability of its details.

the motives of the writer form as important an ingredient in the analysis or his history, as the facts he records. Probability is a powerful and troublesome test; and it is by this troublesome standard that a large portion of historical evidence is sifted.

To form correct views of individuals we must regard them as forming parts of a great whole-we must measure them by their relation tot the mass of beings by whom they are surrounded; and, in contemplating the incidents in their lives or condition which tradition has handed down to us, we must rather consider the general bearing of the whole narrative, than the respective probability of its details.

If one could be right every hand, none of us would be here,' he said philosophically.

So, one-third of the time it's a bad idea to move, which means that two-thirds of the time it's a good idea.

He finished the bandage and was examining it critically. You know those things are unreliable. His voice held just a touch of reproach. "Eleven out of twelve work fine. I'd say that's better chances than getting an orgasm with a blind date and women still try.

Eleven out of twelve work fine. I'd say that's better chances than getting an orgasm with a blind date and women still try. He blinked and laughed softly. I never know what you'll say next. I don't either.

When it is not in our power to follow what is true, we ought to follow what is most probable.

The true and the approximately true are apprehended by the same faculty; it may also be noted that men have a sufficient natural instinct for what is true, and usually do arrive at the truth. Hence the man who makes a good guess at truth is likely to make a good guess at probabilities.

I think we may very well, in many areas, get likelihood, but not certitude. We don't want certitude anyway, do we?

luck or fate or whatever it is that decides who lives and who doesn't has not,

In particular, the creeping advance of an improbable cascade near the second tipping point is reminiscent of a low-budget hit that starts out slowly and builds by word of mouth.

determinism does not imply predictability.

The solution to Schrödinger's equation shows that a small portion of the electron probability wave exists on the far side of an impenetrable barrier.

things that seem hopelessly random and unpredictable when viewed in isolation often turn out to be lawful and predictable when viewed in aggregate.

Survival, to my mind, implies a finite probability that without luck and cunning, you will perish.

The lifetime likelihood of imprisonment for white women is 1 in 118; for black women, it's 1 in 19.

As a general rule, the less time a bookmaker has to set his odds the softer the odds are going to be.

Nothing is impossible. Some things are just less likely than others.

That's too bad, Mr. Hall said, opening Door 1. You've won a goat. But you didn't open another door yet or give me a chance to switch. Where does it say I have to let you switch every time? I'm the master of the show.

When I think about doing something, I think: Will I survive a million out of a million times?

Trust a witness in all matters in which neither his self-interest, his passions, his prejudices, nor the love of the marvellous is strongly concerned. When they are involved, require corroborative evidence in exact proportion to the contravention of probability by the thing testified.

There was no difference between the behavior of a god and the operations of pure chance.