The first steps in the path of discovery, and the first approximate measures, are those which add most to the existing knowledge of mankind.
Charles BabbageIt can happen to but few philosophers, and but at distant intervals, to snatch a science, like Dalton, from the chaos of indefinite combination, and binding it in the chains of number, to exalt it to rank amongst the exact. Triumphs like these are necessarily 'few and far between.'
Charles BabbageThat a country, [England], eminently distinguished for its mechanical and manufacturing ingenuity, should be indifferent to the progress of inquiries which form the highest departments of that knowledge on whose more elementary truths its wealth and rank depend, is a fact which is well deserving the attention of those who shall inquire into the causes that influence the progress of nations.
Charles BabbageAt each increase of knowledge, as well as on the contrivance of every new tool, human labour becomes abridged.
Charles Babbage