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Henry Petroski Quotes


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Quotes by Henry Petroski

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We can't simply blame the engineers when things go wrong because, no matter how well they plan, things don't always go according to plan.

~Henry Petroski

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I emphasize that virtually every engineering calculation is ultimately a failure calculation, because without a failure criterion against which to measure the calculated result, it is a meaningless number.

~Henry Petroski

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I have always been fascinated by the way things work and how they came to take the form that they did. Writing about these things satisfies my curiosity about the made world while at the same time giving me an opportunity to design a new explanation for the processes that shape it.

~Henry Petroski

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Typically, highway bridges have about 50 years. But over in England, they have iron bridges approaching 250 years. In France, there are Roman aqueducts that are approaching 2,000 years old. So a bridge can last a very long time if it's built properly in the first place and then maintained properly.

~Henry Petroski

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Failures are much more dramatic than successes, and people like drama. I think this is why automobile races draw such crowds. People expect spectacular crashes, which we tend to find more interesting than cars just racing around the track. The same is true of bridges, buildings, or any structure or machine.

~Henry Petroski

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If I could go upstairs and write every day, I would be happy. I don't need recreation.

~Henry Petroski

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Relying on nothing but scientific knowledge to produce an engineering solution is to invite frustration at best and failure at worst.

~Henry Petroski

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Design is nothing if not decision making.

~Henry Petroski

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A common misconception about how things such as space shuttles come to be is that engineers simply apply the theories and equations of science. But this cannot be done until the new thing-to-be is conceived in the engineer's mind's eye. Rather than following from science, engineered things lead it.

~Henry Petroski

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All conventional wisdom has an element of truth to it, but good design requires more than an element of truth - it requires an ensemble of correct assumptions and valid calculations.

~Henry Petroski

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Biography

Nationality: American

Type: Author

Born: February 6th, 1942

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