Department of Statistics and Applied Probability | Faculty of Science | National University of Singapore

On Life

Why would anyone want to compete in a marriage? The winner would be married to a loser.
-- W. Edwards Deming

Don't chase success. If you chase excellence first, success will chase you.
-- Mark Pitinkin

The biggest mistake you can make is to believe that you work for someone else.
-- Anonymous

Good, fast, cheap! (Pick 2)
-- Anonymous

Advice is seldom welcome; and those who want it the most always like it the least.
-- Earl of Chesterfield, in a letter to his son dated 29 January 1748

I give myself sometimes admirable advice, but I am incapable of taking it.
-- Mary Wortley Montagu

"I left as I arrived -- fired with enthusiasm."
-- John Kenneth Galbraith on page 53 of his book A Tenured Professor

When historian Charles Beard was asked to try to summarize the lessons of history in a small book, he's reported to have replied that he could do so in just four sentences:

Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad with power.
The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly small.
The bee fertilizes the flower it robs.
When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.

Author: Berwin A Turlach
Date Last modified:Wed Jan 3 10:03:20 SGT 2007
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URL: http://www.stat.nus.edu.sg/~statba/humour/stats.on.life.html