Quotes by : Henry Petroski

Science is about knowing engineering is about doing.

We call the fates of the Titanic and the Concordia - as well as those of the space shuttles Challenger....

Successful design is not the achievement of perfection but the minimization and accommodation of imperfection.....

Any design, whether it's for a ship or an airplane, must be done in anticipation of potential failures.....

I was always told that I was good in mathematics, and I guess my grades and standardized test scores....

Engineering is achieving function while avoiding failure.

The paradox is that when we model future designs on past successes, we are inviting failure down the....

Because they are so humbled by their creations, engineers are naturally conservative in their expectations....

Design is nothing if not decision making.

I emphasize that virtually every engineering calculation is ultimately a failure calculation, because....