Simon van der Meer Quotes

The Faculty of Technology of Tohoku University is renowned for its tradition of practical studies.

I think one problem we've had is that people who are smart and creative and innovative as engineers went into financial engineering.

I know a lot of people who are very good at their craft who have learned - people behind the camera - who really have a lot to offer because they know what they're doing, they know what to do, they've made their mistakes.

If we go and see hundreds of different market resources, you are seeing hundreds of different points of view, and once in a while, my experience is, you will come across one or two that are just outstanding, and you never would have thought of them.

Many of the most eloquent people I have ever met work in lab coats every day.

Working through experience is best for me, just being there and trying to get into the mode.

The greatest teacher I know is the job itself.

You can do all the film school you want in classrooms, but if you are on the set, you are going to learn so much more because you are really in the middle of doing it.

We're always looking for candidates that have new approaches to problems.

Modern psychology teaches that experience is not merely the best teacher, but the only possible teacher.. There is no war between theory and practice. The most valuable experience demands both, and the theory should supplement the practice and not precede it.

The [engineer] should be equipped with knowledge of many branches of study and varied kinds of learning, for it is by his judgement that all work done by the other arts is put to test. This knowledge is the child of practice and theory.

Knowledge gained through experience is far superior and many times more useful than bookish knowledge.

Knowledge must come through action.

I like talking to engineers best. They built bridges, they're very precise, very disciplined, yet I find they have roving minds.

Once turn to practice, error and truth will no longer consort together.

We live not only in a world of thoughts, but also in a world of things. Words without experience are meaningless.

You see, some things I can teach you. Some you learn from books. But there are things that, well, you have to see and feel.

Experience is a truer guide than the words of others.

Talent without craft is like fuel without an engine, it burns wildly but accomplishes nothing.

You don't learn knife skills at cooking school, because they give you only six onions and no matter how hard you focus on those six onions there are only six, and you're not going to learn as much as when you cut up a hundred.

Brains are no substitute for judgement.

True originality consists not in a new manner but in a new vision. That new, that personal, vision is attained only by looking long enough at the object represented to make it the writer's own; and the mind which would bring this secret gem to fruition must be able to nourish it with an accumulated wealth of knowledge and experience.

It is unnecessary to understand electromagnetic theory before wiring a lamp or to study physics in order to repair a pump. We count on our fingers and give no heed to the proliferating implications of the act.

Books are cool, but knowledge without mileage doesn't mean anything to me.

The best way of learning about anything is by doing.