Gary Becker Quotes

Logic obviously is important. You need to be able to figure things out, to go to the end of a particular problem. But intuition is very important because it references things that logic alone cannot.

Approximating involves making a series of educated guesses systematically by partitioning the problem into manageable chunks, identifying assumptions, and then using your general knowledge of the world to fill in the blanks.

Chess first of all teaches you to be objective.

I don't think I have ever taken any 'offbeat' advice. Actually, I don't know I take any advice very often. I trust my own instincts and seek out information so I can make fully informed decisions. That's what's worked for me.

The modern mind tends to be more and more critical and analytical in spirit, hence it must devise for itself an engine of expression which is logically defensible at every point and which tends to correspond to the rigorous spirit of modern science.

If one devalues rationality, the world tends to fall apart.

Snowden is an orderly thinker, with an engineer's approach to problem-solving.

I'm not a big believer in doing too much research - I think you can get lost in it. You can get constrained by it, which I think is a mistake. But if you've done your homework, the audience feels it.

I've always made my decisions based on two factors: intellectual analysis and my gut. And when they meet, that's a go from me. That's when I see the goal.

I do not feel certain until I have confronted my initial solution with other solutions - although in fact the first solution often proves to be the right one.

I don't think the scientific method and the science fictional method are really analogous. The thing about them is that neither is really practiced very much, at least not consciously. But the fact that they are methodical does relate them.

I notice increasing reluctance on the part of marketing executives to use judgment; they are coming to rely too much on research, and they use it as a drunkard uses a lamp post for support, rather than for illumination.

Judgment is more than skill. It sets forth on intellectual seas beyond the shores of hard indisputable factual information.

When I get logical, and I don't trust my instincts - that's when I get in trouble.

I never guess. It is a shocking habit destructive to the logical faculty.

I fear we might be losing the basic human facility to be alone - and with that you throw out independent decision-making, what to trust, what not to trust; key stuff - a perilous loss.

A woman uses her intelligence to find reasons to support her intuition.

I don't really get things very... intuitively. I mean, I don't immediately understand things. The only way I really get it is by writing it down.

But I don't think I have any particular talent for prediction, because when you have three or four elements in hand, you don't have to be a genius to reach certain conclusions.

There is no single right answer or path forward, but there is one right way to frame the problem.

I encourage active skepticism - when people are being skeptical because they're trying to identify the best course of action. They're trying to identify the next step for themselves or other people.

Intuition is truly a feminine quality, but women should not mistake rash conclusions for this gift.

Mostly, I try to take a rational approach to life.

Trust your gut instinct over spreadsheets. There are too many variables in the real world that you simply can't put into a spreadsheet. Spreadsheets spit out results from your inexact assumptions and give you a false sense of security. In most cases, your heart and gut are still your best guide.

When there is a problem, always identify and evaluate your underlying assumptions that may be contributing to the problem or preventing you from seeing the problem clearly.