John Edgar Wideman Quotes

After all we speak of people 'taking refuge' in vagueness -the more precise you are, in general the more likely you are to be wrong, whereas you stand a good chance of not being wrong if you make it vague enough.

Everything is vague to a degree you do not realize till you have tried to make it precise.

Mathematics allows for no hypocrisy and no vagueness.

I have no problem with anyone being precise about small things.

Exactness and neatness in moderation is a virtue, but carried to extremes narrows the mind.

Ambiguity is very interesting in writing; it's not very interesting in science.

There's a fine line in being too specific so you can't be too flexible, and being too vague in being specific and people not thinking it's meaningful.

I consider looseness with words no less of a defect than looseness of the bowels.

Exactitude is not truth.

Everything that David Chase does has a tremendous amount of specificity. He is very detail oriented.

It's all about perfection, isn't it?

Being stubborn can be a good thing. Being stubborn can be a bad thing. It just depends on how you use it.

I don't like creating software anymore. It's too exact. It's like karate; there's no room for error.

You will always find a few people in any area that would like things done completely their way.

Consistency frequently launches its devotees into obstinacy.

Important principles may and must be inflexible.

Nothing is more dangerous in practice, than an obstinate, unbending adherence to a system.

I love things that are really linear and perfect and simple.

I'm a really particular person. I want it my way.

There is a world of difference between not disclosing fine detail and relying on broad and generalised assertions. The first may be understandable; the second is not acceptable.

It is... easy to be certain. One has only to be sufficiently vague.

In the future there cannot be room for ambiguity. They have to make their position absolutely clear before they can expect anyone to respond to it.

I don't make a lot of mistakes, because it's hard for me to be wrong

... always been a goal-oriented girl. it was both her strength and her weakness. She had a drive to completion that always gets things done, but it also made her inflexible, and stubborn.

The man who sees absolutes, where all other men see nuances and shades of meaning, is either a prophet, or a quack.