Favourite Quotes on Evaluation and Measurement

March 17, 2006 at 4:44 pm 6 comments

In presentations on evaluation and measurement, I find the use of quotes from experts or well-known personalities assists in clarifying the importance of the field for the listeners. Here are some of my favourite quotes:

“True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous, and conflicting information”
Winston Churchill

“Fear cannot be banished, but it can be calm and without panic; it can be mitigated by reason and evaluation”
Vannevar Bush

“The only man who behaves sensibly is my tailor; he takes my measurements anew every time he sees me, while all the rest go on with their old measurements and expect me to fit them”
George Bernard Shaw

And a favorite from Monitoring and Evaluation News:

Friend to Groucho Marx: “Life is difficult!”

Marx to Friend: “Compared to what?”

Entry filed under: General.

Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Methods for Evaluation Evaluation – going beyond your own focus

6 Comments Add your own

1. Sandeep Jain | March 17, 2006 at 5:04 pm

Good Selections
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2. Glenn | March 17, 2006 at 8:12 pm

Thanks Sandeep, any extra quotes are most welcome – i’m always on the lookout.
Glenn
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3. Marla Nayer | January 5, 2007 at 1:04 am

What gets measured gets done
Tom Peters

Ambiguous questions lead inevitability to ambiguous results, or, as computer scientists like to state, “garbage in, garbage out.”
Robert Matz, MD (1977)
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4. More favourite quotes on evaluation and measurement « intelligent measurement | December 23, 2007 at 8:58 pm

[…] add to my previous favourite quotes on evaluation and measurement, I have collected the following quotes – […]
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5. Tonsils, run over dogs and comparisons « intelligent measurement | April 28, 2008 at 8:05 pm

[…] In the same way, you often hear people saying “our results are terrible” – or “we are doing too much of XY”. But my first reaction is “How do you judge that – what are you comparing it to?” – often no real inquiry or comparative data are used (which reminds me of another quote from Groucho Marx). […]
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6. matakulit | July 22, 2010 at 1:55 am

where is the quotation of measurement there?
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