E. W. Howe Quotes

Probability is the very guide of life.

A fundamental principle of information theory is that you can’t guarantee outcomes… in order for an experiment to yield knowledge, it has to be able to fail. If you have guaranteed experiments, you have zero knowledge

We must become more comfortable with probability and uncertainty.

Probability is expectation founded upon partial knowledge. A perfect acquaintance with all the circumstances affecting the occurrence of an event would change expectation into certainty, and leave nether room nor demand for a theory of probabilities.

Uncertainty is everywhere and you cannot escape from it.

All inquires carry with them some element of risk. There is no guarantee that the universe will conform to our predispositions.

Probability is not about the odds, but about the belief in the existence of an alternative outcome, cause, or motive.

Statistics were magic like this: they could tell you with near-certainty that a thing would occur, without a hint of when or where.

We may not be able to get certainty, but we can get probability, and half a loaf is better than no bread.

As far as physicians go, chance is more valuable than knowledge.

There is nothing so uncertain as a sure thing.

Sometimes the probabilities are very close to certainties, but they're never really certainties.

To me, nothing ever feels like a sure thing. I cling to that because it's very important you don't ever think anything is a sure thing.

I can't predict the future.

There is no elimination of all risks.

Life is a school of probability

A pinch of probability is worth a pound of perhaps.

There is always something to upset the most careful of human calculations.

Coincidences, in general, are great stumbling-blocks in the way of that class of thinkers who have been educated to know nothing of the theory of probabilities.

Nothing is ever certain.

There are no absolute certainties in this universe. A man must try to whip order into a yelping pack of probabilities, and uniform success is impossible.

Whatever way uncertainty is approached, probability is the only sound way to think about it.

Many things are possible. Few things are certain.

Skill is a function of chance. It’s an intuitive best-use of chance situations.

Truly, that reason upon which we plume ourselves, though it may answer for little things, yet for great decisions is hardly surer than a toss up.