Favorite Tech Quotes

[LeRan]

"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist." - Dom Helder Camara (Communism)

"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin (Liberalism)

Definitely the best quotes in the game. They do actually make me feel better everytime I discover the corresponding techs

 

[Honolulu Blue]

So that's Sid reciting the quotes for Aesthetics, etc.? You learn something new every day.

Anyway, my top five. Starting at #5:

"Never trust a computer you can't throw out a window."

At #4:

"I cannot live without books."

At #3:

"If you chase two rabbits, you will lose them both."

At #2:

"You can get more of what you want with a kind word and a gun than you can with just a kind word."

Finally, at the top of the list:

"You would make a ship sail against the winds and currents by lighting a bon-fire under her deck? I have no time for such nonsense."

 

[Turquoiside]

"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist." - Dom Helder Camara (Communism)

"You would make a ship sail against the winds and currents by lighting a bon-fire under her deck? I have no time for such nonsense."

Many posters and my favorites.

 

[mech654]

Nationalism of course

"A man does not have himself killed for a half-pence a day or for some petty distinction. You must speak to the soul in order to electrify him" - Napoleon Bonaparte

This one and

The great masses of people will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one-Adolf Hitler

 

[mythmonster2]

"You would make a ship sail against the winds and currents by lighting a bon-fire under her deck? I have no time for such nonsense."
and
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic"
oh, and
"People can have the Model T in any color, so long as its black."
and one from a BTS scenario, or at least I think its from one.
"One day we shall look back on all this and crash into a parked car."

 

[jahsoldier]

This one always causes my eyebrow to raise:

"There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: Make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wage possible."
- Henry Ford

call me jaded, but surely that should be 'paying the lowest wage possible'?

 

[Lemon Merchant]

"Everywhere is somewhere, and you get there in a car."

But not at these gas prices...

 

[GooglyBoogly]

call me jaded, but surely that should be 'paying the lowest wage possible'?

I know it is probably old grammar, but yes it is highest wage possible
- his, and only his wage

 

[Honolulu Blue]

This one always causes my eyebrow to raise:

"There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: Make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wage possible."
- Henry Ford

call me jaded, but surely that should be 'paying the lowest wage possible'?

Actually, Mr. Ford DID mean "highest wage", for two reasons - (1) He wanted happy workers - or at least workers who didn't worry too much about money, and (2) he wanted a class of people who could afford his automobiles.

This philosophy has pretty much fallen into disuse in the modern world.

 

[stee]

"Beep...beep...beep..."
-Sputnik satellite

From "Satellites"

You can't beat that...

 

[Solo4114]

Well, Beep beep beep is probably the funniest to hear Nimoy read, but my favorite is the Steam Engine one (bonfires under decks).

 

[Admiral Armada]

It has been said that Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried. -Churchill, Democracy?

This one always makes me smile.

 

[stee]

I fooled you, I folled you, I got pig iron I got pig iron i got pig iron i got pig iron i got pig iron i got pig iron i got pig iron i got pig iron i got pig iron i got pig iron i got pig iron i got pig iron i got pig iron i got pig iron i got pig iron i got pig iron i got pig iron i got pig iron i got pig iron i got pig iron i got pig iron i got pig iron i got pig iron i got pig iron i got pig iron. that would be funny hearing him read.

 

[AbbieRevo]

Two things to say,

1. Just want to make sure that the venerable Dr. Clarke gets his due for the "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistingushible from magic" , as well as bring up it's humurous corollary "Any sufficiently convoluted plot point is indistingishable from magick"

2. My favorite is "Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies'

 

[Öjevind Lång]

I also like Bronze Working's flavor quote:

It is entirely seemly for a young man killed in battle to lie mangled by the bronze spear. In his death all things appear fair. -Homer

That's my favourite too, together with the one by the Buddha about true meditation, though I don't remember that one word by word.

 

[Öjevind Lång]

Not bad, but it would apply to a lot more than communism. "but if I ask why the unemployed have no job they call me a facist", etc.

All awesome quotes are like that though. Looks good on a coffee mug, but it doesn't really hold up as policy.

No one was ever called a fascist for asking why the unemployed have no jobs. Helder Camara, a Catholic bishop with a social conscience, was frequently and without good reason accused of being a communist for siding with the poor. I think they should have accused him of being a Christian.

Another good quote in the game is Hitler's statement that people are more prepared to swallow a big lie than a little one.

The "give a man a fire" quote is a humorous adaption of Lao-Tzu's aphorism "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime." That one is for the discovery of Fishing, of course. And an excellent quote too.

 

[ICNP]

Maybe we should just nominate some of the best and then make a formal poll?

If only nukes were better in this game. Then I'm sure the oppenheimer quote would get a little more love as something that means the best part of the game.

 

[DroopyTofu]

I like Bronze Working, Satalites, Radio, Future Tech, and Masonry.

 

[KabeDerlin]

Every time a suspect is kidnapped and unlawfully imprisoned, every time they're allowed to be tortured for information, every time attempts are made to strip them of habeas corpus, America is giving up essential liberties for temporary security.

Oh America, we can't have fun with anything without getting into a political argument.

Some of my favorite quotes:

"It is entirely seemly for a young man killed in battle to lie mangled by the bronze spear. In his death, all things appear fair." -Homer

The delivery of that quote is far better than the quote itself.

Also, I'm an atheist, but I appriciate a well written Bible verse, and I moreso appriciate Nemoy's excellent reading of it. I don't think this ones been said yet.

"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace." -Numbers

And

"And on the pedestal these words appear: 'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!' Nothing beside remains."
- Percy Bysshe Shelley

Also, great in it's own right, but Nemoy makes it even better.

 

[mcneebs]

beep beep beep beep

Every time I hear that one it makes me think what it would have been like. American's must have been really worried, and everyone in the USSR must have felt a sense of pride.