Asa Gray Quotes

Does it follow that I reject all authority? Perish the thought. In the matter of boots, I defer to the authority of the boot-maker.

Knowledge is power, if you know it about the right person.

Right, but there's expertise and then there's inside information. And I think we have to make a distinction.

Every man gets a narrower and narrower field of knowledge in which he must be an expert in order to compete with other people. The specialist knows more and more about less and less and finally knows everything about nothing.

Who shall decide when doctors disagree?

It never occurred to any of us to consult in this emergency farmers, doctors, lawyers, shoemakers, or even statesmen. We could not escape the belief that the prospect of obtaining what we needed might be somewhat improved by making application to those whose business and surroundings qualified them to intelligently respond.

Monti is a person who is an expert on both the political and professional level.

I have a unique perspective just from the career that I've had.

Who can endure a doctrine which would allow only dentists to say whether our teeth were aching, only cobblers to say whether our shoes hurt us, and only governments to tell us whether we were being well governed?

The master of a single trade can support a family. The master of seven trades cannot support himself. The wind is never for the sailor who knows not to what port he is bound.

No single piece of macroeconomic advice given by the experts to their government has ever had the results predicted.

You can always find some expert who will say something hopelessly hopeless about anything.

I would rather be an expert on me than on Cicero

We should be on our guard not to overestimate science and scientific methods when it is a question of human problems, and we should not assume that experts are the only ones who have the right to express themselves on questions affecting the organization of society.

In fact, all kinds of men, and not merely architects, can recognize a good piece of work.

It is surely a matter of common observation that a man who knows no one thing intimately has no views worth hearing on things in general.

No man should attempt to teach others what he has never learned himself

Pundits forecast not because they know, but because they are asked.

Was it animal pee or human pee? Someone asked. How would I know? What, am I an expert in the study of pee?

Don't indulge your theories, think of your children and listen to the experts.

It's fair to say that if you have a lot of experience, your power is greater. You have more of an opportunity to roll up your sleeves with younger directors.

Don't ask the barber whether you need a haircut, and don't ask an academic if what he does is relevant.

A good writer is an expert on nothing except himself. And on that subject, if he is wise, he holds his tongue.

If an outsider perceives 'something wrong' with a core scientific model, the humble and justified response of that curious outsider should be to ask 'what mistake am I making?' before assuming 100% of the experts are wrong.