Henry Petroski Quotes

Failure is central to engineering. Every single calculation that an engineer makes is a failure calculation. Successful engineering is all about understanding how things break or fail.

Failure is Central to engineering. Every single calculation that an engineer makes is a failure calculation.

Federal regulations forbid delaying inspections for fracture-critical bridges like the fallen Minneapolis bridge - the kind with a lack of redundancy in design, so that a single failure in a load-bearing part can cause the entire bridge to collapse.

What is commonly overlooked in using the computer is the fact that the central goal of design is still to obviate failure, and thus it is critical to identify exactly how a structure may fail. The computer cannot do this by itself . . .

A failed structure provides a counterexample to a hypothesis and shows us incontrovertibly what cannot be done, while a structure that stands without incident often conceals whatever lessons or caveats it might hold for the next generation of engineers.

Engineering is achieving function while avoiding failure.

Any design, whether it's for a ship or an airplane, must be done in anticipation of potential failures.

Making pictures, for an actress, is like betting, for a gambler. Each time you make a picture you try to analyze why you won or lost.

Successful engineering is all about understanding how things break or fail.

Risk and failure is a part of our equation, and if you are seeing too little failure, you are actually probably not taking enough risks.

Case studies of failure should be made a part of the vocabulary of every engineer so that he or she can recall or recite them when something in a new design or design process is suggestive of what went wrong in the case study.

Now, being a science fiction writer, when I see a natural principle, I wonder if it could fail.

Failure to subject the project, especially in its latter frenzied stages, to a cold and objective appraisal by the best operating talent available, particularly by those not involved in the operation Failure to advise the president, at an appropriate time, that success had become dubious and to recommend that the operation be therefore canceled Failure to recognize that the project had become overt and that the military effort had become too large to be handled by the agency alone

The Agency became so wrapped up in the military operation that it failed to appraise the chances of success realistically. Furthermore, it failed to keep the national policymakers adequately and realistically informed of the conditions considered essential for success.

In any endeavor, you have to understand your tolerance for risk. What's a failure you can afford?

When you do make losses, or you have businesses that don't succeed, it's about knowing when to stop and do something else.

When you can look at failure and say, 'What is the worst case scenario,' it's not as bad as it seems.

Proper accounting is like engineering. You need a margin of safety. Thank God we don't design bridges and airplanes the way we do accounting.

If you are attempting the impossible, you will fail.

By definition, risk-takers often fail. So do morons. In practice it's difficult to sort them out.

A pattern is either right or wrong...it is no stronger than its weakest point.

Without proper self-evaluation, failure is inevitable.

It is a common mistake to think of failure as the enemy of success. Failure is a teacher-a harsh one, but the best. Pull your failures to pieces looking for the reason. Put your failure to work for you.

When we think about what might go wrong, we're more likely to design something that goes right.

I'm a firm believer in taking risks in life, because you'll never get anywhere unless you do, and the more risk involved the greater the outcome - or the worse, but you never know so you've got to go for it.