Peter Arno Quotes

Writing for me is largely about rewriting.

Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.

Once I get over maybe a hundred pages, I won't go back to page one, but I might go back to page fifty-five, or twenty, even. But then every once in a while I feel the need to go to page one again and start rewriting.

Rewriting to me means, if I work on it for three days, I've rewritten it.

If we screw it up, start over. Try something else.

Engineering is achieving function while avoiding failure.

You ask people, 'should we go back to square one?' People don't want to do that.

Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.

In order to succeed you must fail, so that you know what not to do the next time.

There was concern whether SCI FI would want the show back with all the recent changes. But now, the changes have made it feel fresh, like starting over.

I employ case studies of failure into my courses, emphasizing that they teach us much more than studies of success. It is not that success stories cannot serve as models of good design or as exemplars of creative engineering. They can do that, but they cannot teach us how close to failure they are.

I like to edit my sentences as I write them. I rearrange a sentence many times before moving on to the next one. For me, that editing process feels like a form of play, like a puzzle that needs solving, and it's one of the most satisfying parts of writing.

I've learnt something from every failure. The products I helped design at the first two companies I worked for were utter failures. But now I know why.

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.

When ideas fail, words come in very handy.

It's never too late - in fiction or in life - to revise.

As actors, you become an expert at starting over.

Ideas must be put to the test. That's why we make things, otherwise they would be no more than ideas. There is often a huge difference between an idea and its realisation. I've had what I thought were great ideas that just didn't work.

I felt that some of my work was OK. If I could do it over, I'd do better.

If you fail the first time that's just a chance to start over again.

I have no doubt that we will be successful in harnessing the sun's energy.... If sunbeams were weapons of war, we would have had solar energy centuries ago.

Shuffle up the cards and try again.

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.

The ideal weapons system is built in 435 congressional districts, and it doesn't matter whether it works or not.