Paraphrase Quotes (4 quotes)
~~[Paraphrase]~~ Statistical thinking will one day be as necessary for efficient citizenship as the ability to read and write.
This is not a verbatim quote from H.G. Wells, but is a much-shortened paraphrase from his book Mankind in the Making (1903). The paraphrase was expressed by statistician Samuel S. Wilks, in a 1951 address. See the Samuel S. Wilks Quotations page on this site for the full citation. See this H.G. Wells quote page for the original full quote, beginning: “The new mathematics is a sort of supplement to language…” Note that, in fact, Wells referred only to “mathematical analysis” such as “averages and maxima and minima” — and did not specify (more complex) “statistics” at all!
I might paraphrase Churchill and say: never have I received so much for so little.
[Exemplifying humility, upon accepting the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.]
[Exemplifying humility, upon accepting the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.]
In Banquet Speech, Stokholm (10 Dec 1970). Nobelprize.org website.
It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously. I also cannot imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere has been cited as a statement that precedes the last three sentences here, but this might have originated in a paraphrase, a transcription error, or a misquotation; it does not appear in any editions of the essay which have thus far been checked.
…...
To paraphrase Dr. Orr: “Darwinian evolution can easily produce irreducible complexity: all that's required is that parts that were once just favorable become, because of later changes, essential.”
In 'Is the Complement System Irreducibly Complex?' on The TalkOrigins Archive website. Coon summarizes H. Allen Orr, who wrote: “An irreducibly complex system can be built gradually by adding parts that, while initially just advantageous, become-because of later changes-essential. The logic is very simple. Some part (A) initially does some job (and not very well, perhaps). Another part (B) later gets added because it helps A. This new part isn't essential, it merely improves things. But later on, A (or something else) may change in such a way that B now becomes indispensable. This process continues as further parts get folded into the system. And at the end of the day, many parts may all be required.” In H. Allen Orr, 'Darvin v. Intelligent Design (Again)' in Boston Review (Dec 1996/Jan1997)
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) -- 
