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Henry Petroski Quotes


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Quotes by Henry Petroski

Showing 41-49 of 49 Quotes by Henry Petroski

The definition of 'safe' is not strictly an engineering term; it's a societal term. Does it mean absolutely no loss of life? Does it mean absolutely no contamination with radiation? What exactly does 'safe' mean?

~Henry Petroski

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Although engineers want always to make everything better, they cannot make anything perfect. This basic characteristic flaw of the products of the profession's practitioners is what drives change and makes achievement a process rather than simply a goal.

~Henry Petroski

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It is really want, rather than need, that drives the process of technological evolution.

~Henry Petroski

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Luxury, not necessity, is the mother of invention. Every artifact is somewhat wanting in its function, and that is what drives its evolution.

~Henry Petroski

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No design, no matter how common or seemingly insignificant, is without its adamant critics as well as its ardent admirers.

~Henry Petroski

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Because every design must satisfy competing objectives, there necessarily has to be compromise among, if not the complete exclusion of, some of those objectives, in order to meet what are considered the more important of them.

~Henry Petroski

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Because they are so humbled by their creations, engineers are naturally conservative in their expectations of technology. They know that the perfect system is the stuff of science fiction, not of engineering fact, and so everything must be treated with respect.

~Henry Petroski

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It seems to be a law of design that for every advantage introduced through redesign, there is an accompanying unintended disadvantage.

~Henry Petroski

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Too much redesign has to do more with fad and fashion than with fitness and function. It is change for the sake of change. Such redesign is not only unnecessary, it is all too often also retrogressive, leading to things that work less effectively than those they were designed to replace.

~Henry Petroski

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Biography

Nationality: American

Type: Author

Born: February 6th, 1942

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