"It doesn’t matter what the winners do when elected—the promise gets them the job, memories are short, and incumbency leads to tenure."
Harold ("Hal") Warren Lewis was an American Emeritus Professor of Physics and former department chairman at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). He was chairman of the JASON Defense Advisory Group from 1966 to 1973, and was active in US government investigations into safety of nuclear reactors.
"There may be people who know more than you, and can therefore do a better job of predicting the odds. If you can find one to help you out, do so. But steer clear of phoney prophets, like astrologers, palmists, and readers of crystal balls. (We may have lost some readers on that sentence. Polls continue to show that an appalling and disturbing fraction of Americans still believe in that baloney.)"
"The better is the worst enemy of the plenty good enough."
"Honorable lawyers will tell you that it is the function of a lawyer to help the jury or the court to follow the truth, wherever it may lead, but lawyers with that as their prime objective will soon have few clients. Most lawyers will tell you that their real obligation is to present the best possible case for the clients who are paying them—quite a different goal."
"As far back as the earliest biblical times, the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” applied to thy friends and neighbors—all bets were off when dealing with tribal enemies. Especially when they had other religious predilections."
"Someone once said that he had made many mistakes in life, but never because he knew too much."
"It is a fallacy of human perception to see patterns that aren’t there, and to see order where there is none."