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Improbable Quotes

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Improbable Quotes

“Approaching the forest from the west was no army, but a delegation of Grailsundanian master surgeons on their way to an appendix conference . . . But that isn't the craziest part of the story - oh, no, my boy, for approaching from the east was a party of itinerant watchmakers bound for the pocket-watch fair at Wimbleton . . . But not even that is the craziest part of the story! For apporaching from the south were over a hundred armourers and locksmiths on their way to Florinth, where some power-hungry prince had commissioned them to build a monstrous war machine . . . Well, that would be enough crazy coincedences for an averagely crazy story but the battle of Nurn Forest involved the most improbable coincedences in the history of Zamonia. For entering the forest, this time from the north came a delegation of alchemists.”

FunnySurgeonsImprobableAlchemistsArmourersCoincedenceLocksmithsWatchmakers
Book:Rumo & His Miraculous Adventures
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“We talk about spreading democracy and freedom all over the world, but they are to us words rather than conditions. We haven't even got them here in America, and the farther we get into this war the farther we get away from democracy and freedom. Where is it leading us to, and when will it end? The war might stop this winter, but that is improbable. It may go on for fifty years or more. That also is improbable. The elements are too conflicting and confused to form any accurate judgment of its length. There may be a series of wars, one after another, going on indefinitely.”

WorldYearsMayWarEndsMightAmericaFormDemocracyConditionsHavensGoes OnElementsJudgmentSeriesWinterConfusedFiftyGet AwayLengthAccurateImprobable
Author:Charles Lindbergh
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“It could be argued that all leadership is appreciative leadership. It’s the capacity to see the best in the world around us, in our colleagues, and in the groups we are trying to lead. It’s the capacity to see the most creative and improbable opportunities in the marketplace. It’s the capacity to see with an appreciative eye the true and the good, the better and the possible.”

WorldTryingEyeOpportunityCreativeGroupsCapacityColleaguesMarketplaceImprobableAppreciative
Author:David Cooperrider
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“Evolving life must experience a vast range of possibilities, based on environmental histories so unpredictable that no realized route - the pathway to consciousness in the form of Homo sapiens or Little Green Men, for example - can be construed as a highway to heaven, but must be viewed as a tortuous track rutted with uncountable obstacles and festooned with innumerable alternative branches. Any reasonably precise repetition of our earthly route on another planet therefore becomes wildly improbable even in a trillion cases.”

MenLittlesFormHeavenConsciousnessCasesExamplePossibilityPlanetsGreenEnvironmentalTrackObstaclesAlternativesEvolveRangeBranchesRoutesPreciseRepetitionUnpredictableHighwaysPathwaysHomo SapiensImprobableEnvironmental History
Author:Stephen Jay Gould
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“I believe that Communism is necessary to the world, and I believe that the heroism of Russia has fired men's hopes in a way which was essential to the realization of Communism in the future. Regarded as a splendid attempt, without which ultimate success would have been very improbable, Bolshevism deserves the gratitude and admiration of all the progressive part of mankind.”

MenWorldWayBelieveHas BeensI BelieveMankindGratitudeEssentialsDeserveUltimateRussiaRealizationCommunismAdmirationProgressiveHeroismSplendidImprobableBolshevismUltimate Success
Book:Bolshevism: practice and theory
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“Chess, which exists predominantly in two dimensions, is one of the world's most difficult games. Three-dimensional chess is an invitation to insanity. But human relationships, even of the simplest order, are like a kind of four-dimensional chess, a game whose pieces and positions change subtly and inexorably between moves, whose players stare dumbly while their powerful positions deteriorate into hopeless predicaments and while improbable combinations suddenly become inevitable. To make matters worse, some games are open to any number of players, and all sides are expected to win.”

WorldHumansKindTwoMatterMovingOrderThreeGamesWinningDifficultSidesPowerfulNumbersPiecesFourPlayerPositionExpectedChessInevitableCombinationStaringInsanityDimensionsHopelessSimplestInvitationsHuman RelationsHuman RelationshipsImprobablePredicaments
Book:Time and the Art of Living
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“Statistically, it would seem improbable that any mathematician or scientist, at the age of 66, would be able through continued research efforts, to add much to his or her previous achievements. However I am still making the effort and it is conceivable that with the gap period of about 25 years of partially deluded thinking providing a sort of vacation my situation may be atypical. Thus I have hopes of being able to achieve something of value through my current studies or with any new ideas that come in the future.”

ThinkingYearsMayStillsIdeasSeemsWould BeAgeAbleValuesEffortSituationStudyAchievePeriodsAchievementResearchScientistAddCurrentsGapsVacationProvidingNew IdeasMathematicianImprobableHaving HopeDeluded
Author:John Forbes Nash
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“There is nothing in the nature of a miracle that should render it incredible:;: its credibility depends upon the nature of the evidence by which it is supported. An event of extreme probability will not necessarily command our belief unless upon a sufficiency of proof; and so an event which we may regard as highly improbable may command our belief if it is sustained by sufficient evidence. So that the credibility or incredibility of an event does not rest upon the nature of the event itself, but depends upon the nature and sufficiency of the proof which sustains it.”

IfsShouldMayDoeBeliefEventsDependsEvidenceMiracleRegardIncrediblesExtremesProofCommandSufficientProbabilityCredibilityImprobableSufficiency
Book:Passages from the Life of a Philosopher
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“This argument [that life is too improbable to have arisen by chance] comes up repeatedly: its latest manifestation is Hoyle's discussion of the likelihood of a wind blowing through a junkyard assembling a Boeing 707 [sic]. What is wrong with it? Essentially, it is that no biologist imagines that complex structures arise in a single step.”

Life IsChanceStepsImagineWindArgumentStructureComplexesCome UpAriseDiscussionManifestationImagine ThatImprobableLikelihoodBiologistBoeingAssemblingSingle StepWind BlowingJunkyard
Author:John Maynard Smith
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“Okay, look at it this way: if the evening news has a very high probability of being accurate, then it's highly improbable that they would inaccurately report the numbers chosen in the lottery. That counterbalances any improbability in the choosing of those numbers, so you're quite rational to believe in this highly improbable event.”

IfsWayBelieveLooksNumbersEventsNewsOkayChosenRationalEveningReportsAccurateProbabilityLotteryImprobableImprobability
Author:William Lane Craig
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“The presently existing global financial and monetary system will disintegrate during the near term. The collapse might occur this spring, or summer, or next autumn; it could come next year; it will almost certainly occur during President William Clinton's first term in office; it will occur soon. That collapse into disintegration is inevitable, because it could not be stopped now by anything but the politically improbable decision by leading governments to put the relevant financial and monetary institutions into bankruptcy reorganization.”

YearsFirstsGovernmentMightNextPresidentTermDecisionOfficeSummerSpringInstitutionsClintonFinancialInevitableAutumnRelevantCollapseNext YearMonetaryBankruptcyImprobableDisintegrationMonetary SystemReorganization
Author:Lyndon LaRouche
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“However far back we may be able to trace the - so to speak - internal history of the Universe, there can be no question of arguing that this or that external origin is either probable or improbable. We do not have, and we necessarily could not have, experience of other Universes to tell us that Universes, or Universes with these particular features, are the work of Gods, or of Gods of this or that particular sort.”

MayAbleUniverseSpeakAtheismParticularPositive AtheismArguingFeaturesInternalsFlewImprobable
Book:God, freedom, and immortality: a critical analysis
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“As human beings, we are vulnerable to confusing the unprecedented with the improbable. In our everyday experience, if something has never happened before, we are generally safe in assuming it is not going to happen in the future, but the exceptions can kill you and climate change is one of those exceptions.”

IfsInspirationalHumansHappensHuman BeingsHappenedSafeAssumingClimateEverydayClimate ChangeVulnerableExceptionConfusingUnprecedentedImprobable
Author:Al Gore
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“A nap is not to be confused with sleeping. We sleep to recharge our bodies. We nap to care for our souls. When we nap, we are resting our eyes while our imaginations soar. Getting ready for the next round. Sorting, sifting, separating the profound from the profane, the possible from the improbable. Rehearsing our acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize, our surprise on receiving the MacArthur genius award. This requires a prone position. If we're lucky, we might drift off, but we won't drift far. Just far enough to ransom our creativity from chaos.”

IfsSoulEnoughBodyMightEyeCareNextImaginationSleepCreativityPositionAcceptanceReadyGeniusLuckySpeechSurpriseProfoundChaosRoundsConfusedPrizeAwardsReceivingSoarNobelNapsImprobableNobel PrizeSeparatingProfaneRehearsingRansomSortingSiftingAcceptance SpeechMacarthur
Author:Sarah Ban Breathnach
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“Seurat and Signac mixed paintings with the dry and abstract laws of science. This approach, in my opinion, usually strays from the purpose of art in general. Because it means that one cannot expect from an artifact, that is created with mathematical laws, to establish an improbable and irrational relationship between the work and the viewer.”

MeanArtLawPurposeOpinionPaintingApproachMathematicalAbstractDryIrrationalViewersImprobableArtifactsPurpose Of Art
Author:Guity Novin
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“No matter how high are one's estimates of human stupidity, one is repeatedly and recurrently startled by the fact that:a) people whom one had once judged rational and intelligent turn out to be unashamedly stupid.b) day after day, with unceasing monotony, one is harassed in one's activities by stupid individuals who appear suddenly and unexpectedly in the most inconvenient places and at the most improbable moments.”

PeopleHumansMatterMomentsFactsTurnsIndividualStupidActivityIntelligentStupidityRationalJudgedImprobableInconvenientMonotonyHuman Stupidity
Author:Carlo M. Cipolla
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“The important point is that since the origin of life belongs in the category of at-least-once phenomena, time is on its side. However improbable we regard this event, or any of the steps which it involves, given enough time it will almost certainly happen at least once. And for life as we know it, with its capacity for growth and reproduction, once may be enough.”

KnowsMayImportantEnoughHappensGivenSidesGrowthStepsEventsCapacityRegardCategoriesEnough TimeReproductionImprobableOrigin Of Life
Author:George Wald
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“There is a vague popular belief that lawyers are necessarily dishonest. I say vague, because when we consider to what extent confidence and honors are reposed in and conferred upon lawyers by the people, it appears improbable that their impression of dishonesty is very distinct and vivid. Yet the impression is common, almost universal.”

PeopleBeliefCommonHonorUniversalLawyerImpressionVagueVividDishonestyImprobable
Book:Lincoln on Democracy
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