The usual designation of the magnitude scale to my name does less than justice to the great part that Dr. Gutenberg played in extending the scale to apply to earthquakes in all parts of the world.

The most remarkable feature about the magnitude scale was that it worked at all and that it could be extended on a worldwide basis. It was originally envisaged as a rather rough-and-ready procedure by which we could grade earthquakes. We would have been happy if we could have assigned just three categories, large, medium, and small; the point is, we wanted to avoid personal judgments. It actually turned out to be quite a finely tuned scale.

Don't wait for extraordinary circumstance to do good; try to use ordinary situations.

I have a sense of humor; but over the years that sense has developed one blind spot. I can no longer laugh at ignorance or stupidity. Those are our chief enemies, and it is dangerous to make fun of them.

My main point today is that usually one gets what one expects, but very rarely in the way one expected it.

No joy in nature is so sublimely affecting as the joy of a mother at the good fortune of a child.

It is a common remark that men talk most who think least; just as frogs cease their quacking when a light is brought to the water-side.