Stephen J. Dubner Quotes

I think if I try to develop a formula, it ends up not working.

Much can often be learned by the repetition under different conditions, even if the desired result is not obtained.

The biggest job we have is to teach a newly hired employee how to fail intelligently. We have to train him to experiment over and over and to keep on trying and failing until he learns what will work.

Science is the practice of failing repeatedly but learning as you go.

Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them.

We often say that the biggest job we have is to teach a newly hired employee to fail intelligently... to experiment over and over again and to keep on trying and failing until he learns what will work.

Entrepreneurs don't write a 100-page business plan and execute it one time; they're always experimenting and adapting based on what they learn.

Ideas do not always come in a flash but by diligent trial-and-error experiments that take time and thought.

You've got to experiment to figure out what works.

I had noticed that many of these successful people, historical and contemporary, shared certain common traits. They had a way of thinking that was exceptionally fluid; they could adapt to almost any circumstance; when confronted with problems, they could look at them from novel perspectives and solve them.

The core hacker premise that 'code wins arguments' is just another way of saying that anything is worth trying, regardless of whether it is a conservative or liberal idea, and that whatever works is worth keeping.

I give people ideas on how to solve intractable problems.

That is the trouble with many inventors; they lack patience. They lack the willingness to work a thing out slowly and clearly and sharply in their mind, so that they can actually "feel it work." They want to try their first idea right off; and the result is they use up lots of money and lots of good material, only to find eventually that they are working in the wrong direction. We all make mistakes, and it is better to make them before we begin.

If failure is not an option, neither is success. Innovation is just repeated failure till you come up with something that works.

40% of what I've done was a mistake. I now call it R&D.

There is no single way to train, or do anything well. You have to keep thinking, keep doing things.

To me, very much of what is artistic is people's very creative and inventive ways out of impossible situations.

Pure innovation is more gross than error.

Coming up with a way to fix mistakes challenges your creativity and your critical thinking skills and your resourcefulness. Often you end up with something better than what you planned on in the first place.

I think a lot of people study the rules too much and then don't know how to be creative.

And in order to succeed in later life, you need creative skills because look at how fast the world is changing.

You need to make mistakes in rehearsal because that's how you find out what works and what doesn't.

Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.

There's no learning without trying lots of ideas and failing lots of times.

My methodology is not knowing what I'm doing and making that work for me.