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Quote#Kindness

On two occasions I have been asked, — "Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put…

Quote byCharles Babbage · 1791–1871

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Passages from the Life of a Philosopher (1864), ch. 5 "Difference Engine No. 1".

English (original)

On two occasions I have been asked, — "Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?" In one case a member of the Upper, and in the other a member of the Lower, House put this question. I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.

— Charles Babbage

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