Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again.
In light of the U.N. report today on Climate Change, I thought it might be time to update this list. My additions are at the end.
THE TOP REGRETTABLE QUOTES OF ALL TIME
With over fifteen types of foreign cars already on sale here, the Japanese auto industry isn’t likely to carve out a big share of the market for itself. – Business Week, August 2, 1968
There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will. – Albert Einstein, 1932
The phonograph has no commercial value at all. – Thomas Edison, American inventor, 1880s
If excessive smoking actually plays a role in the production of lung cancer, it seems to be a minor one. – W. C. Heuper, National Cancer Institute, 1954
They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance. – Last words of Gen. John Sedgwick, spoken as he looked out over the parapet at enemy lines during the Battle of Spotsylvania in 1864
Sensible and responsible women do not want to vote. – Grover Cleveland, U.S. President, 1905
I’m sorry, Mr. Kipling, but you just don’t know how to use the English language. – The San Francisco Examiner, rejecting a submission by Rudyard Kipling in 1889
Just so-so in center field. – New York Daily News after the premiere of Willie Mays, 1951
I’m just glad it’ll be Clark Gable who’s falling on his face and not Gary Cooper. – Gary Cooper, on declining the lead role in Gone with the Wind
You better get secretarial work or get married. – Emmeline Snively, director of the Blue Book Modelling Agency, advising would-be model Marilyn Monroe in 1944
There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home. – Kenneth Olsen, President and founder of Digital Equipment Corporation, in 1977
Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value. – Marshal Ferdinand Foch, French Military Strategist and Future World War 1 Commander, in 1911
(Man will never reach the Moon) regardless of all future scientific advances. – Dr Lee De Forest, inventor of the Audion Tube and Father of Radio, in 1926
(Television) won’t be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night. – Darryl F. Zanuck, head of 20th Century-Fox in 1946
We don’t like their sound. Groups of guitars are on the way out. – Decca Records rejecting the Beatles, in 1962
For the majority of people, the use of tobacco has a beneficial effect. – Dr. Ian G. Macdonald, Los Angeles Surgeon, as quoted in Newsweek, November 18, 1969
This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us. – Western Union internal memo, in 1876
The Earth is the center of the Universe. – Ptolemy, the great Egyptian astronomer, in the second century
Nothing of importance happened today. – Written by King George III of England on July 4, 1776
Quotes on Climate Change by U.S. Politicians:
I don’t think we have conclusive proof that humans are at the center of [global warming]. – Newt Gingrich
The greatest hoax I think that has been around for many, many years if not hundreds of years has been this hoax on the environment and global warming. – Ron Paul
The idea that man made gases, CO2, are causing catastrophic global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people. – Senator James Inhofe (R-OK)
The idea that man, through the production of CO2…is somehow responsible for climate change is, I think, just patently absurd when you consider all the other factors, El Nino, La Nina, sunspots, moisture in the air. – Rick Santorum, June 9, 2011
The weight of the science indicates that if there’s any human behavior involved, it’s a modest amount. – Tim Pawlenty
The science is not settled on this. The idea that we would put Americans’ economy at jeopardy based on scientific theory that’s not settled yet to me is just nonsense. – Rick Perry, September 9, 2011
I’m not one to attribute every activity of man to the changes in the climate. There is something to be said also for man’s activities, but also for the cyclical temperature changes on our planet. – Sarah Palin, October 3, 2008
We in the Senate will continue to fight for legislation that will give the certainty that no unelected bureaucrat at the EPA is going to make efforts to create jobs even more difficult than the administration already has. – Mitch McConnell, April 6, 2011