Richard Holbrooke Quotes

Deciding under uncertainty is bad enough, but deciding under an illusion of certainty is catastrophic.

One of the functions of intelligence is to take account of the dangers that come from trusting solely to the intelligence.

'Obvious' is the most dangerous word in mathematics.

The process of science is difficult and challenging. It involves always being aware that your ideas might be right or they might be wrong. I think it's that kind of balance that makes science so interesting.

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.

He that's secure is not safe.

In these matters the only certainty is that nothing is certain.

I used to think there was a scientific way to do things. Like a proper way to answer a question or that kind of stuff. It's like, there's not! There's not a method, there's not a science to it.

One should proceed with caution. We may simply not be wise enough to do some of the kinds of engineering things that people are talking about doing.

That is the essence of science: ask an impertinent question, and you are on the way to a pertinent answer.

One thing that being a scientist has taught me is that you can never be certain about anything. You never know the truth. You can only approach it and hope to get a bit nearer to it each time. You iterate towards the truth. You don't know it.

Today, if you are not confused, you are not thinking clearly.

If you're not riddled with doubt, you've probably done something wrong.

One cannot always be right in our complex world; no dishonor attends an incorrect choice among plausible outcomes drawn from a properly constructed argument.

If we have as a clear certainty with which to plan, total uncertainty, then that would be helpful.

If I let myself believe anything on insufficient evidence, there may be no great harm done by the mere belief; it may be true after all, or I may never have occasion to exhibit it in outward acts. But I cannot help doing this great wrong towards Man, that I make myself credulous. The danger to society is not merely that it should believe wrong things, though that is great enough; but that it should become credulous, and lose the habit of testing things and inquiring into them; for then it must sink back into savagery.

Intelligence always carries uncertainties. That is the nature of the beast.

I think you cannot be too complacent. I think that's dangerous, and you cannot take anything for granted.

With everything I do, there always seems to be a massive risk involved.

Assumptions are dangerous things.

There is often less danger in the things we fear than in the things we desire.

We must conduct research and then accept the results. If they don't stand up to experimentation, Buddha's own words must be rejected.

The fearful are caught as often as the bold.

If it is true that we need a degree of certainty to get by, it is also true that too much of the stuff can be lethal.

Criticism, though dignified from the earliest ages by the labours of men eminent for knowledge and sagacity, has not yet attained the certainty and stability of science.