All Beginning Is Dangerous

All Beginning is Dangerous.  The Poet can choose whether to raise emotion from one grade to another, and so finally to exalt it to a great height -- or to try a surprise attack, and from the start to pull the bell-rope with might and main.  Both processes have their danger -- in the first case his hearer may run away from him through boredom, in the second through terror.

-- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844 - 1900), German philosopher, cultural critic, and writer, Human, All Too Human (1878) Aphorism #163

Once-Chosen Path

GOAL AND PATH - Many are obstinate with regard to the once-chosen path, few with regard to the goal.

-- Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844 - 1900), German philosopher, cultural critic, and writer, Human, All Too Human (1878) Part II, Aphorism 494, page 241

Worthy Of Thought

In everything well known something worthy of thought still lurks.

-- Martin Heidegger (1889 - 1976), German philosopher, Nietzsche (1961) p. xxxix

The Object Of Loyalty

It is a very great mistake to imagine that the object of loyalty is the authority and interest of one individual man, however dignified by the applause or enriched by the success of popular actions.  This has led millions into such a degree of dependence and submission, that they have at length found themselves to homage the instruments of their ruin at the very time they were at work to effect it.  The true object of loyalty is a good legal constitution, which, as it condemns every instance of oppression and lawless power, derives a certain remedy to the sufferer by allowing him to remonstrate his grievances, and pointing out methods of relief when the gentle arts of persuasion have lost their efficacy.  Whoever, therefore, insinuates notions of government contrary to the constitution, or in any degree winks at any measures to suppress or even to weaken it, is not a loyal man.

-- Samuel Adams (1722 - 1803), American revolutionary and organizer of the Boston Tea Party, governor of Massachusetts from 1793 to 1797, "Loyalty and Sedition," essay published in The Advertiser (1748)

RIP Margaret Hamilton

From my own perspective, the software experience itself (designing it, developing it, evolving it, watching it perform and learning from it for future systems) was at least as exciting as the events surrounding the mission.  There was no second chance.  We knew that.  We took our work seriously, many of us beginning this journey while still in our 20s.  Coming up with solutions and new ideas was an adventure.  Dedication and commitment were a given.  Mutual respect was across the board.  Because software was a mystery, a black box, upper management gave us total freedom and trust.  We had to find a way, and we did.  Looking back, we were the luckiest people in the world; there was no choice but to be pioneers; no time to be beginners.

-- Margaret Hamilton (17 August 1936 - 29 September 2026), American computer scientist, responsible for the Apollo On-Board Flight Software as director of the Software Engineering Division of MIT's Instrumentation Laboratory, quoted by MIT News (7 October 2026)

Knowledge Is More

Knowledge is more than equivalent to force.  The master of mechanicks laughs at strength.

-- Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784), British author, linguist, and lexicographer, The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759) Ch. XIII

Diligence And Skill

Few things are impossible to diligence and skill.

-- Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784), British author, linguist, and lexicographer, The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia (1759) Ch. XII