Two quotations by physicist Feynman

"The next question was - what makes planets go around the sun? At the time of Kepler some people answered this problem by saying that there were angels behind them beating their wings and pushing the planets around an orbit. As you will see, the answer is not very far from the truth. The only difference is that the angels sit in a different direction and their wings push inward."
-- Richard Feynman, Character Of Physical Law, p. 8

What I am going to tell you about is what we teach our physics students in the third or fourth year of graduate school... It is my task to convince you not to turn away because you don't understand it. You see my physics students don't understand it... That is because I don't understand it. Nobody does.
-- Richard Feynman, Nobel Lecture, 1966

La penisola del Tesoro

È caduto l'Impero romano, può cadere anche Mediobanca. Ma le Generali mai, esse sono il vero tesoro di questo Paese e non devono cadere.
The Roman Empire is fallen, Mediobanca can fall. But Generali Insurance cannot, they are the true treasure of our country and they shall never fall.
-- Enrico Cuccia

The essence of perfection

The qualities of a pure soul are intelligence devoid of envy, ambition free from malice, and unceasing love for the Lord of glory.
-- St Diadochos of Photiki

Office politics

It's better to have the right person ask the wrong question than to have the wrong person ask the right question.
-- Dilbert comic

The whole point with science

The issue of how confident we are in the [...] answer is a subtle one which cannot be resolved by computing some measure of how well the model mimics historical data. The degree of confidence in the answer depends on the confidence that is placed in the economic theory being used.
-- Kydland and Prescott, 1991 AD

Every downwards movement of a body made of gold or lead, or any other material, is faster inasmuch the body is larger.
-- Aristotle, 300 BC

[...] it's the first time they had somebody tell the truth about what the problems are instead of denying and instead of saying, "Oh, yeah, everything is fine: No inflation, war's going to end next week, losing 4,000 men doesn't mean all that much."

-- Ron Paul, Republican presidential candidate 2008

The unexpected citrus

Pummelo (citrus maxima): it's like an enormous grapefruit with just enough sugar added.

Year 6 A9

After 9/11 the world has changed but the tramway is still late.
-- Matteo Mandrile, October 2001.