"Facts"
"There will never be a four-minute mile. A man's heart will not stand it, and that's all there is to it.”
- Jake Weber, Fordham track coach (1930s) Roger Bannister broke the four minute mile in 1954. Many runners have since bettered his time.
"The abolishment of pain in surgery is a chimera. It is absurd to go on seeking it... Knife and pain are two words in surgery that must forever be associated in the consciousness of the patient. "
- Dr. Alfred Velpeau (1839), French surgeon
"Men might as well project a voyage to the Moon as attempt to employ steam navigation against the stormy North Atlantic Ocean. "
- Dr. Dionysus Lardner (1793-1859), Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy at University College, London.
"[W]hen the Paris Exhibition closes electric light will close with it and no more be heard of."
- Erasmus Wilson (1878) Professor at Oxford University
"This `telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a practical form of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us."
- Western Union internal memo, 1878
"[Television] won't be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night."
- Darryl F. Zanuck, head of 20th Century-Fox, 1946.
"Rail travel at high speed is not possible because passengers, unable to breathe, would die of asphyxia."
- Dr. Dionysus Lardner (1793-1859), Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy at University College, London.
"The horse is here to stay, but the automobile is only a novelty—a fad. "
- Advice from a president of the Michigan Savings Bank to Henry Ford's lawyer Horace Rackham. Rackham ignored the advice and invested $5000 in Ford stock, selling it later for $12.5 million.
"There is not the slightest indication that [nuclear energy] will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will."
- Albert Einstein, 1932.
"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible."
- Lord Kelvin (1824-1907), ca. 1895, British mathematician and physicist
"Space travel is utter bilge. "
- Dr. Richard van der Reit Wooley, Astronomer Royal, space advisor to the British government, 1956. (Sputnik orbited the earth the following year.)
"There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home. "
- Kenneth Olsen, president and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977.
"You will not publish a book this year . . . especially not if you aren't already published!"
Have a great new year, and go prove another "fact" wrong
- Jake Weber, Fordham track coach (1930s) Roger Bannister broke the four minute mile in 1954. Many runners have since bettered his time.
"The abolishment of pain in surgery is a chimera. It is absurd to go on seeking it... Knife and pain are two words in surgery that must forever be associated in the consciousness of the patient. "
- Dr. Alfred Velpeau (1839), French surgeon
"Men might as well project a voyage to the Moon as attempt to employ steam navigation against the stormy North Atlantic Ocean. "
- Dr. Dionysus Lardner (1793-1859), Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy at University College, London.
"[W]hen the Paris Exhibition closes electric light will close with it and no more be heard of."
- Erasmus Wilson (1878) Professor at Oxford University
"This `telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a practical form of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us."
- Western Union internal memo, 1878
"[Television] won't be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night."
- Darryl F. Zanuck, head of 20th Century-Fox, 1946.
"Rail travel at high speed is not possible because passengers, unable to breathe, would die of asphyxia."
- Dr. Dionysus Lardner (1793-1859), Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy at University College, London.
"The horse is here to stay, but the automobile is only a novelty—a fad. "
- Advice from a president of the Michigan Savings Bank to Henry Ford's lawyer Horace Rackham. Rackham ignored the advice and invested $5000 in Ford stock, selling it later for $12.5 million.
"There is not the slightest indication that [nuclear energy] will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will."
- Albert Einstein, 1932.
"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible."
- Lord Kelvin (1824-1907), ca. 1895, British mathematician and physicist
"Space travel is utter bilge. "
- Dr. Richard van der Reit Wooley, Astronomer Royal, space advisor to the British government, 1956. (Sputnik orbited the earth the following year.)
"There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home. "
- Kenneth Olsen, president and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977.
"You will not publish a book this year . . . especially not if you aren't already published!"
Have a great new year, and go prove another "fact" wrong
Jeff Savage — 12/31/2007 11:31:00 AM
8 comments
8 Comments:
Okay! I think I will!
Thanks, Jeff!
You're awesome, Jeff! Way to be "realistic"! If a man can walk on the moon, I can sure as heck get published!
Thanks for the boost!
Absolutely!! And if I can, you definitely can!!! I want a signed copy of the first one.
These are GREAT!!! I need to print them out and hang them around the walls. How sick the people who said these things must feel as they look down on humanity in awesome wonder.
Oh wow, what an excellent reminder of the limits we face! I noted that each quote was someone we would all expect to know that kind of information as they were experts in their field. Interesting.
Which just goes to show that even the experts don't have all the answers. My agent likes to say that if publishers and agents really knew what they wanted they could just contract it out.
Don't forget my personal favorite:
"A duck's quack doesn't echo. And nobody knows why!"
(Of course it echoes. All sounds can echo.)
/local echo
Point well taken Mr. Savage. Great post!
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