Douglas Adams? J. R. Williams? Bill Vaughan? Ron Burns? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: There is a family of comical sayings which highlight the paradoxical intelligence of fools and idiots: (1) Nothing is foolproof. Fools are entirely too ingenious.(2) They’re not idiot-proof because idiots are so damned inventive. English humorist Douglas Adams employed this quip, …
Tag Archives: Bill Vaughan
Quote Origin: To Err Is Human, But a Human Error Is Nothing To What a Computer Can Do If It Tries
Agatha Christie? Bill Vaughan? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Previously you examined a humorous statement from columnist Bill Vaughan about the electronic beasts that control so much of our lives: To err is human, to really foul things up requires a computer. I think that the famous mystery writer Agatha Christie said something very similar. …
Quote Origin: Youth Is When You’re Allowed to Stay Up Late on New Year’s Eve. Middle Age Is When You’re Forced To
Bill Vaughan? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: I once read a humorous comment about New Year’s Eve that contrasted the experiences of the young and the middle aged. The young were joyful because they were “allowed to stay up late” while the older people held a different opinion. Are you familiar with this joke and …
Quote Origin: To Err is Human; To Really Foul Things Up Requires a Computer
Paul Ehrlich? Alexander Pope? Senator Soaper? Bill Vaughan? Agatha Christie? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: I am reading your blog and that shows I am not a Luddite, but computers can be very exasperating. One of my favorite quotations on this topic is the following: To err is human, but to really foul things up …
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