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Sydney J. Harris
(14 Sep 1917 - 7 Dec 1986)
English-American journalist, humorist and author who was known as a widely syndicated columnist. He studied philosophy, but turned in 1934 to a career in writing and editing for newspapers in Chicago. His perceptive columns on a broad range of topics have been collected in eleven books, including Pieces of Eight.
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Science Quotes by Sydney J. Harris (6 quotes)
An idealist believes the short run doesn’t count. A cynic believes the long run doesn’t matter. A realist believes that what is done or left undone in the short run determines the long run.
— Sydney J. Harris
From column 'Thoughts at Large,' Chicago Sun-Times. Quoted in Reader’s Digest (May 1979).
Computers may soon replace many people who work with their minds, but nothing yet can replace that finest physical tool of all, the human hand.
— Sydney J. Harris
In Best of Sydney J. Harris (1976), 82.
In shape, it is perfectly elliptical. In texture, it is smooth and lustrous. In color, it ranges from pale alabaster to warm terra cotta. And in taste, it outstrips all the lush pomegranates that Swinburne was so fond of sinking his lyrical teeth into.
— Sydney J. Harris
From 'Tribute to an Egg', Majority of One (1957), 77.
It is not enough that a few brilliant men can create computers to “think” for us; for the greatest thinking machine is inside each of us.
— Sydney J. Harris
In Best of Sydney J. Harris (1976), 82.
Most students treat knowledge as a liquid to be swallowed rather than as a solid to be chewed, and then wonder why it provides so little nourishment.
— Sydney J. Harris
Seen around the web, but without citation. Webmaster has so far been unable to authenticate. Please contact Webmaster if you know the primary source.
The real danger is not that computers will begin to think like men, but that men will begin to think like computers.
— Sydney J. Harris
As quoted, without citation, in Howard W. Eves, Return to Mathematical Circles, (1988), 63.
See also:
- The Best of Sydney J. Harris, by Sydney Harris. - book suggestion.
- Booklist for Sydney J. Harris.
In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.
(1987) -- 
