“The errors which arise from the absence of facts are far more numerous and more durable than those which result from unsound reasoning respecting true data.” FactsScienceResultsErrorsAbsenceAriseDataReasoning Book:On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures ... Second edition enlarged Source: On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures ... Second edition enlarged
“It is not truly realistic or scientific to take short views, to sacrifice the future to immediate pressure, to ignore facts and forces that are disagreeable and to magnify the enduring quality of whatever falls in with immediate desire. It is false that the evils of the situation arise from absence of ideals; they spring from wrong ideals.” ThinkingFactsDesireFallEvilForceViewsQualitySituationSacrificeSpringIdealsPressureEndureAbsenceAriseRealisticDisagreeable Book:The Middle Works, 1899-1924: 1920 Source: The Middle Works, 1899-1924: 1920
“You know, when I was in college, there was a big debate: Do unions raise wages? Well, with regard to industrial unions, there were arguments back and forth -- international competition. It is now clear, I think, that whether or not you think unions raised wages 50 years ago, the absence of unions and their weakness that is inflicted by anti-union public policy depresses wages. The fact is that people who are not represented, in the service industries in particular, are the victims of policies which depress their wages.” PeopleThinkingKnowsYearsWellsFactsBigsClearPolicyCollegeParticularIndustryWeaknessYears AgoArgumentRegardRaisesVictimCompetitionUnionsRaisedInternationalAbsenceDebateDepressingWagesBack And ForthPublic PolicyService Industry Author:Barney Frank
“Now the code of life of the High Middle Ages said something entirely opposite to this: that it was precisely lack of leisure, an inability to be at leisure, that went together with idleness; that the restlessness of work-for-work's sake arose from nothing other than idleness. There is a curious connection in the fact that the restlessness of a self-destructive work-fanatacism should take its rise from the absence of a will to accomplish something.” ShouldSaidSelfFactsAgeTogetherMiddleConnectionsOppositesSakeAccomplishAbsenceCuriousCodeDestructiveLeisureInabilityIdlenessMiddle AgesRestlessnessSelf Destructive Author:Josef Pieper