WIST Quotations

Russell, Bertrand -- Conquest of Happiness, Part 2, ch. 13 “Family” (1930)

Dave — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 18:41:09 +0000

To be happy in this world, especially when youth is past, it is necessary to feel oneself not merely an isolated individual whose day will soon be over, but part of the stream of life flowing on from the first germ to the remote and unknown future.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, Part 2, ch. 13 “Family” (1930)
(Source)

Palahniuk, Chuck -- Diary (2003)

Dave — Tue, 12 May 2020 19:38:39 +0000

Leonardo’s Mona Lisa is just a thousand thousand smears of paint. Michelangelo’s David is just a million hits with a hammer. We’re all of us a million bits put together the right way.

Chuck Palahniuk (b. 1962) American novelist and freelance journalist
Diary (2003)

Ackoff, Russell -- “The future of operational research is past,” The Journal of the Operational Research Society, Vol 30 (1979)

Dave — Thu, 26 Mar 2015 12:43:12 +0000

When a mess, which is a system of problems, is taken apart, it loses its essential properties and so does each of its parts. The behavior of a mess depends more on how the treatment of its parts interact than how they act independently of each other. A partial solution to a whole system of problems is better than whole solutions of each of its parts taken separately.

Russell L. Ackoff (1919-2009) American organizational theorist, consultant, management scientist
“The future of operational research is past,” The Journal of the Operational Research Society, Vol 30 (1979)