So Much For That

February 13, 2015 – 5:23 pm

“When you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind.”
– Lord Kelvin

“Yes, and when you can express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meagre and unsatisfactory kind.”
– Jacob Viner

Posted by Malcolm on at 5:23 pm, filed under Apophthegmata. RSS feed for this post. Trackbacks are closed, but you can post a comment.

13 Comments

  1. Musey says

    Well, that is that.

    Posted February 13, 2015 at 5:31 pm | Permalink
  2. TheBigHenry says

    Let me say this about that, “Numbers aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.”

    Posted February 13, 2015 at 5:58 pm | Permalink
  3. TheBigHenry says

    But I am confident that numbers are all they add up to be.

    Posted February 13, 2015 at 6:38 pm | Permalink
  4. we todd ed says

    A Mathematician, a Biologist and a Physicist are sitting in a street cafe watching people going in and coming out of the house on the other side of the street. First they see two people going into the house. Time passes. After a while they notice three persons coming out of the house.
    The Physicist: “The measurement wasn’t accurate.”.
    The Biologist: “They have reproduced”.
    The Mathematician: “If now exactly one person enters the house then it will be empty again.”

    Posted February 13, 2015 at 7:08 pm | Permalink
  5. Horace Jeffery Hodges says

    Let me say tit for tat: “Them’s fighting words!”

    Jeffery Hodges

    * * *

    Posted February 13, 2015 at 7:35 pm | Permalink
  6. TheBigHenry says

    Let me say fit for fat: “Them’s dieting words!”

    Posted February 13, 2015 at 7:52 pm | Permalink
  7. Whitewall says

    I’m guessing neither gent married?

    Posted February 13, 2015 at 9:53 pm | Permalink
  8. TheBigHenry says

    WW,

    Both married; Kelvin twice. Compliments of Google …

    Posted February 13, 2015 at 10:34 pm | Permalink
  9. Kevin Kim says

    …and when you can only express it in teddy bears–or by bellowing “Hodor!”–your knowledge is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind.

    Posted February 14, 2015 at 8:43 am | Permalink
  10. Horace Jeffery Hodges says

    TBH, I finally came up with a proper response to one of your interesting comments on a previous post. Here’s your comment:

    “I believe the human mind can conceptualize beyond its ability to explain.”

    My response:

    “[A] man’s reach should exceed his grasp, Or what’s a heaven for?”

    Andrea del Sarto

    Oh, and I’m a scientist, too:

    “Milton’s Astronomy and the Seasons of Paradise”

    Jeffery Hodges

    * * *

    Posted February 14, 2015 at 7:00 pm | Permalink
  11. Malcolm says

    Jeffery,

    I think Henry’s talking about our need to express ourselves obliquely and allegorically to communicate our understanding of the transcendent. My response:

    “A man’s speech should exceed his grasp, or what’s a metaphor?”

    Posted February 14, 2015 at 10:21 pm | Permalink
  12. Horace Jeffery Hodges says

    A man’s screech should exceed his gasp, or what’s his mettle for?

    Jeffery Hodges

    * * *

    Posted February 15, 2015 at 6:33 am | Permalink
  13. TheBigHenry says

    “A woman’s snatch should exceed her patch, or what are her knickers for?”

    Posted February 16, 2015 at 1:42 am | Permalink

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