Quotes About Progress

To me the biggest breakthrough was when we did Terminator 2 that just opened the door for Jurassic and all of the others and that was as big as when we did motion control on Star Wars. But I don't see another big thing coming.

As an economic historian, I appreciate what manufacturing has contributed to the United States. It was the engine of growth that allowed us to win two world wars and provided millions of families with a ticket to the middle class. But public policy needs to go beyond sentiment and history.

Like wars, forest fires and bad marriages, really stupid laws are much easier to begin than they are to end.

Market capitalism survived and prospered after the boom-bust industrial revolution of the 19th century, and the Great Depression and world wars of the 20th century. It will recover from the financial panic of 2008-09 and Obamanomics.

I leave to the militarists the difficult task of trying to explain to us how these wars have served to shape character or to promote the progress of civilization or to achieve the reign of justice on earth. So far, they have not come forward with the explanation.

From 1945 to 1991, China was engaged in a series of wars that nearly broke them. This generation has been through hell: the Great Leap Forward, hunger, starvation, near collision with the Russians - the Cultural Revolution gone mad. I have no doubt that this generation wants a peaceful rise.

When are boots in the ground no longer going to have to even be people, and is that right? When does it become 'Star Wars?' When is enough enough? When do we put this time and energy into eliminating war or reasons for war instead of creating new technology to make war easier for us?

We are going to hire a woman who's going to direct a 'Star Wars' movie. I have no doubt.

'Star Wars' boils down to the transition from adolescence into adulthood.

I point out the Democratic party won two world wars and beat the depression, cut out the poverty by two thirds, and was responsible for the same sustained prosperity that we've had in the United States. What the hell do we have to apologize for?

It's during wartime that innovations happen.

People would like better batteries but they are wary of making investments. What is required is both a technology push and a market pull.

Never give up; for even rivers someday wash dams away.

Historically Indians have been frugal in terms of living, using only as much is required. Now convenience has taken over our simple and sustainable ways of living. We used to wash clothes with our hands, we used buckets and a mug for bath, there was emphasis on ventilation - but all that is lost to the fast pace of living.

A lot of the things I was doing on the first couple Washed Out releases was very naive.

I kinda washed my hands of him. I'm not worried about Mike Jones. I don't wish no bad on him and I don't hate him, but I've got to move in my own direction.

The series of photographic operations, developing, washing, final drying, takes about quarter of an hour.

When I was 13, I had my first job with my dad carrying shingles up to the roof. And then I got a job washing dishes at a restaurant. And then I got a job in a grocery store deli. And then I got a job in a factory sweeping Cheerio dust off the ground.

But there's so much kludge, so much terrible stuff, we are at the 1908 Hurley washing machine stage with the Internet. That's where we are. We don't get our hair caught in it, but that's the level of primitiveness of where we are. We're in 1908.

Every man who takes office in Washington either grows or swells, and when I give a man an office, I watch him carefully to see whether he is growing or swelling.

I felt somehow for many years that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton just left me out by mistake. But through the process of amendment, interpretation, and court decision, I have finally been included in 'We, the people.'

The progress of evolution from President Washington to President Grant was alone evidence to upset Darwin.

Washington is gripped by crab-in-the-bucket syndrome. And there's no cure in sight. Put a single crab in an uncovered bucket, and it will find a way to climb up and out on its own. Put a dozen crabs in a bucket, and 11 will fight with all their might to pull down the striver who attempts escape.

Historically, if you look at people like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, people with disposable incomes have always been agricultural innovators.