Kelvin Sampson Quotes

We wait until Pandora's box is opened before we say, "Wow, maybe we should understand what's in that box." This is the story of humans on every problem.

Science never solves a problem without creating ten more.

The law of unintended consequences, far more than the Constitution, is what governs the modern presidency.

Avoid a remedy that is worse than the disease.

Science, in the very act of solving problems, creates more of them.

...People would make the decisions they wished to make and some of them would hurt both themselves and those who loved them, and some would pass unnoticed, while others would bring joy.

Whenever I throw caution to the wind I make sure I'm facing the right way so that it doesn't blow back and hit me in my face.

A problem solved is a problem caused.

Political conflict rests to a very large extent on a universal ignorance of consequences, as the people who are benefited by any particular act or policy are rarely those who struggled for it, and the people who are injured are rarely those who opposed it.

Clearly, there has been a lack of imagination about how much can go wrong.

Call me an extremist but killing a few hundred million people seems like the sort of method that might have unintended consequences.

Taking one’s chances is like taking a bath, because sometimes you end up feeling comfortable and warm, and sometimes there is something terrible lurking around that you cannot see until it is too late and you can do nothing else but scream and cling to a plastic duck.

We are trying to make the world a better place, but that is not necessarily what we accomplish. Many of the problems which preoccupy us are basically insoluble.

History is often the tale of small moments—chance encounters or casual decisions or sheer coincidence—that seem of little consequence at the time, but somehow fuse with other small moments to produce something momentous, the proverbial flapping of a butterfly’s wings that triggers a hurricane.

Be careful what you wish for. There's always a catch.

If we just create and don't think about what might happen, that's when we're going to get into trouble.

I would say it would be worth it if, in fact, it would - if you could demonstrate that that would be the case and that the results and ramifications around the world wouldn't lead to more problems and more people dying. It's a very complex issue, and that's why I think we need to decide it.

The Remedy often proves worse than the Disease.

The only thing that you can get into without a lot of trouble is a lot of trouble.

People avoid action. Often because they are afraid of the consequences, for action means risk and danger. Danger seems terrible from a distance; it is not so bad if you have a close look at it

Our national problems usually do not cause nearly as much harm as the solutions.

The unpredictability inherent in human affairs is due largely to the fact that the by-products of a human process are more fateful than the product.

The sad truth is that opportunity doesn't knock twice. You can put things off until tomorrow but tomorrow may never come. Where will you be a few years down the line. Will it be everything you dreamed of. We seal our fate with the choices we take, but don't give a second thought to the chances we take.

What happens when you have vast legislative overreach is you don't particularly fix the problem you started out to fix but create problems for everyone else.

Half of the results of a good intentions are evil; half the results of an evil intention are good.