David Brin Quotes

This may be the most important proposition revealed by history: At the time, no one knew what was coming.

Never make predictions, especially about the future.

History is full of times when the inevitable front-runner is inevitable right up until he or she is no longer inevitable.

The one thing we can all be sure about in politics is you are as well to expect the unexpected.

I don't want to set the world up for surprises.

He who lives by the crystal ball will eat shattered glass.

Science has not yet mastered prophecy. We predict too much for the next year and yet far too little for the next 10.

If I want to speculate wildly about the future, I have my science fiction. Anybody who tells you they can predict the future is either crazy or lying.

[Explaining a failed policy:] Our crystal ball was very muddy.

Breakthroughs are by definition unpredicted events. Therefore predicting breakthroughs is a particularly difficult business.

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

The ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year – and to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn’t happen.

My gran'ther's rule was safer 'n 'tis to crow: Don't never prophesy — onless ye know.

Predictions are a mug's game.

We futurists have a magic button. We follow every statement about a failed forecast with 'yet.'

Punditry is like weather forecasting: the winds can shift without warning. I remember when nobody would bet a McDonald's Quarter Pounder that Bill Clinton would win the White House.

Bad things can happen even to the best players.

How can you make sense of the future when you only have data about the past?

The art of prophecy is very difficult, especially with respect to the future.

We can be almost certain of being wrong about the future, if we are wrong about the past.

I agree with the realistic Irishman who said he preferred to prophesy after the event.

Newspapers tell beforehand what is going to happen - maybe.

From triumph to downfall is but a step. I have seen a trifle decide the most important issues in the gravest affairs.

The devil fools with the best laid plans.

All buildings are predictions. All predictions are wrong.