Selected prediction quotes

1. Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.

2. We can safely make one prophecy: whatever the outcome of this war, the British Empire is at an end. It has been mortally wounded. The future of the British people is to die of hunger and tuberculosis in their cursed island. (4th February 1945)

3. It's going to be a season with lots of accidents, and I'll risk saying that we'll be lucky if something really serious doesn't happen.

4. You just wait. I'm going to be the biggest Chinese Star in the world.

5. I used to think that cyberspace was fifty years away. What I thought was fifty years away, was only ten years away. And what I thought was ten years away... it was already here. I just wasn't aware of it yet.

6. Think of how many religions attempt to validate themselves with prophecy. Think of how many people rely on these prophecies, however vague, however unfulfilled, to support or prop up their beliefs. Yet has there ever been a religion with the prophetic accuracy and reliability of science? ... No other human institution comes close.

7. The future... seems to me no unified dream but a mince pie, long in the baking, never quite done.

8. The Cubs are due in sixty-two.

9. If you keep saying things are going to be bad, you have a good chance of being a prophet.

10. I never got good at predicting what millions of people will suddenly decide is rational.

11. Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.

12. The Germans will make a few scattered attacks, then go away. The Romans will enjoy a fine September.

13. Organisms are not billiard balls, propelled by simple and measurable external forces to predictable new positions on life's pool table. Sufficiently complex systems have greater richness. Organisms have a history that constrains their future in myriad, subtle ways.

14. It is a test of true theories not only to account for but to predict phenomena.

15. Hulk Hogan, what'cha gonna do when The Rock runs wild on you? But you see Hogan, The Rock's gonna tell what's gonna happen. He's gonna tell you exactly what you're gonna do. You're gonna feel electricity like you've never felt before, electricity that's happened like never before. You will hear 70,000 strong chanting your name, chanting The Rock's name. Hulk Hogan, you will see the People's Elbow come crashing down on your chest. And Hogan, above all else, above all else, you will, you will, you will, you will, you will, good god almighty you will smell what The Rock is cooking!

16. Senator Douglas holds, we know, that a man may rightfully be wiser today than he was yesterday - that he may rightfully | change when he finds himself wrong. But can we, for that reason, run ahead, and infer that he will make any particular change, of which he, himself, has given no intimation?

17. 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.

18. One day every major city in america will have a telephone.

19. The chief point we must remember is that the great and rapid advance of the physical sciences took place in fields where it proved that explanation and prediction could be based on laws which accounted for the observed phenomena as functions of comparatively few variables - either particular facts or relative frequencies of events.

20. With prophecies the commentator is often a more important man than the prophet.

21. 'Economists are very good at saying that something cannot go on forever, but not so good at saying when it will stop.'

22. Not too long ago, my opponent made a prediction. He said I would probably win Pennsylvania, he would win North Carolina, and Indiana would be the tiebreaker. Well, tonight we've come from behind, we've broken the tie, and, thanks to you, it's full speed on to the White House.

23. 'The price pattern reminds you that every movement of importance is but a repetition of similar price movements, that just as soon as you can familiarize yourself with the actions of the past, you will be able to anticipate and act correctly and profitably upon forthcoming movements.'

24. 'There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.'

25. I would die happy if I knew that on my tombstone could be written these words, 'This man was an absolute fool. None of the disastrous things that he reluctantly predicted ever came to pass!'

26. That mysterious independent variable of political calculation, Public Opinion.

27. When the number of factors coming into play in a phenomenological complex is too large, scientific method in most cases fails us. One need only think of the weather, in which case prediction even for a few days ahead is impossible. Nevertheless no one doubts that we are confronted with a causal connection whose causal components are in the main known to us. Occurrences in this domain are beyond the reach of exact prediction because of the variety of factors in operation, not because of any lack of order in nature.

28. Experience is the only prophesy of wise men.

29. [Even if the U.S. doesn't attack] Saddam Hussein is not going to survive. His regime is on the verge of implosion. [8]

30. This is not a peace. It is an armistice for 20 years.

31. So far as I can see, all political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome.

32. Back in 2000 a Republican friend warned me that if I voted for Al Gore and he won, the stock market would tank, we'd lose millions of jobs, and our military would be totally overstretched. You know what? I did vote for Gore, he did win, and I'll be damned if all those things didn't come true! [1]

33. 7) Any damn fool can predict the past.

34. No matter how well you know what a person has done and what he thought of what he was doing when he did it and what he now thinks of what he did, it is impossible to be certain of what he will do next.

35. 'There has been a good deal of comment-some of it quite outlandish-about what our postwar requirements might be in Iraq. Some of the higher end predictions we have been hearing recently, such as the notion that it will take several hundred thousand U.S. troops to provide stability in post-Saddam Iraq, are wildly off the mark. It is hard to conceive that it would take more forces to provide stability in post-Saddam Iraq than it would take to conduct the war itself and to secure the surrender of Saddam's security forces and his army-hard to imagine.'

36. Never make forecasts, especially about the future.

37. The ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen.

38. I don't think that anybody could have predicted that these people would take an airplane and slam it into the World Trade Center, take another one and slam it into the Pentagon, that they would try to use an airplane as a missile

39. My gran'ther's rule was safer 'n 'tis to crow: Don't never prophesy-onless ye know.

40. On the night Test faced the Great One, this is what he'll see... twelve sharpshooters stinging, eleven eyebrows raising, ten spines a'bustin, nine noggins knocking, eight kicks a'kicking, seven punches punching, six suplexes smashing, five seconds of the people chanting The Rock's name ... four Rock Bottoms, three People's Elbows, on your two buck teeth, and an ass-kicking all over New Orleans!

41. So I have these occasional visions that may or may not come true. [to Nikki Logan]

42. The Steady State theory was what Karl Popper would call a good scientific theory: it made definite predictions, which could be tested by observation, and possibly falsified. Unfortunately for the theory, they were falsified.

43. If the resident zoologist of Galaxy X had visited the earth 5 million years ago while making his inventory of inhabited planets in the universe, he would surely have corrected his earlier report that apes showed more promise than Old World monkeys and noted that monkeys had overcome an original disadvantage to gain domination among primates. (He will confirm this statement after his visit next year-but also add a footnote that one species from the ape bush has enjoyed an unusual and unexpected flowering, thus demanding closer monitoring.)

44. 'Bobby Lashley says that WrestleMania 23 was the best night of his life. Well at Backlash it will be the worst night of his life!'

45. 'Kurt Angle's body will hit the floor! The WWF's bodies will hit the floor!'

46. 'We said we told you so, but we told you so.'

47. From It's a Gift, chiding a man who is trying to swindle him out of valuable property: 'You're crazy. And I'm drunk. But I'll be sober tomorrow, and you'll be crazy for the rest of your life!'

48. A day will come when the world will find the Wehrmacht responsible for these methods, inasmuch as the things happen with our tacit consent.

49. You know, Brock Lesnar, you wanna play games with The Rock? Ya think you wanna play mind games, is that what you wanna do? You think you're real smart, Brock Lesnar, why, because you came down here and you brought yourself a front row ticket? You and that big fat walrus so he could cheer you on? But you see, you're real smart, Brock, 'cause you do have a front row ticket, but you've also got another ticket, and that's to a big brahma bull ass whoopin', not yesterday, no no no no no, no no, no no no no no no, no, the ass whoopin' is not yesterday, it's not tomorrow, the brahma bull ass whoopin' is toinght! - promo on Brock Lesnar on the August 12, edition of Raw in Seattle

50. As we advance we find more and more frequently that we can in fact ascertain only some but not all the particular circumstances which determine the outcome of a given process; and in consequence we are able to predict only some but not all the properties of the result we have to expect. Often all that we shall be able to predict will be some abstract characteristic of the pattern that will appear - relations between kinds of elements about which individually we know very little. Yet, as I am anxious to repeat, we will still achieve predictions which can be falsified and which therefore are of empirical significance. Of course, compared with the precise predictions we have learnt to expect in the physical sciences, this sort of mere pattern predictions is a second best with which one does not like to have to be content. Yet the danger of which I want to warn is precisely the belief that in order to have a claim to be accepted as scientific it is necessary to achieve more. This way lies charlatanism and worse. To act on the belief that we possess the knowledge and the power which enable us to shape the processes of society entirely to our liking, knowledge which in fact we do not possess, is likely to make us do much harm.

51. This war with Russia is an absurd idea that will have a disastrous outcome for sure. But if for political reasons the conflict is unavoidable, then we must be convinced that we will not gain victory in one simple summary campaign. Thoughts on the distances to cover. We cannot absolutely defeat the enemy and occupy entire western Russia, from the Baltic Sea to the Black, in mere months. We would have to prepare ourselves for one long war and to proceed with shrewdness. First of all, a strong army group towards the North would have to conquer Leningrad and its surrounding territories. This would allow us to join the Finnish, in order to eliminate the red fleet from the Baltic Sea and to increase our infuence on Scandinavia. For the moment the armys of the center-south would have to only be left over until a line that connects Odessa-Kiev-Orsa-Lago Ilmen. Then, if sufficient time remains, the Armed North group could be left over for south-east from Leningrad towards Moscow, while the army group Center moves to the east. All the upcoming operations would have to be held back until 1942, when we would have to elaborate new plans based on the situation which will arise from that moment.

52. Radio has no future. X-ray is a hoax

53. Predicted the shit, in 2Pacalypse/And for once I was down with niggaz, felt good/in the hood bein around the niggaz

54. 'Suprise, surprise!'

55. Finally, The Rock has come back to New Jersey! Just as sure as The Rock for the very first time stood in this arena and called Kevin Kelly an ugly hermaphrodite is just as sure as this Sunday the Rock will be at Hell in a Cell. Now make no mistake this will be the most brutal match The Rock has ever been in. The most dangerous match The Rock has ever been in. The Hell in a Cell. And it doesn't matter, Kevin Kelly, what you call it. Whether it's called a Hell in a Cell, Rage in a Cage, painus in you anus, the only the thing that matters, is that The Rock is going in this Sunday night, to do exactly what he does best - layeth the smacketh down and get back The Rock's WWF title. And the fact of the matter is this, is that The Rock knows this Sunday night, he has his work cut out for him. The Rock knows, he's got five other guys he's got to compete with. And even if The Rock has got to beat Kurt Angle, which means, 'I'm gonna drink a big glass of milk, eat some chocolate chip cookies and maybe I'll take three viagra'. Or maybe The Rock has got to face Rikishi, beat Rikishi. 'I did it for The Rock. I did it for the people. I did it for... oh, shut your mouth, you thong wearin' fatty. Or maybe The Rock has got to beat The Undertaker, the American Badass, beat him so bad, that one more he'll raise up... 'Rest in peace!' Or maybe The Rock has got to beat Triple H himself, which means-uh, he's got to beat The Game-uh, in the middle of the ring-uh. And he has a two dollar slut for a wife-uh! Or maybe The Rock, has gotta beat...(puts on Stone Cold baseball cap) Stone Cold Steve Austin. Which means I gotta get my pick-up truck, drink some Steve-wisers, listen to some Backstreet Boys. And that's the bottom line, 'cause the Great One said so! One more thing, this Sunday night at Armageddon, The Rock is gonna do all he can to win the WWF title. If ya smell...what The Rock is cooking!!

56. I don't think there will be a woman Prime Minister in my lifetime.

57. If we have learned one thing from the history of invention and discovery, it is that, in the long run - and often in the short one - the most daring prophecies seem laughably conservative.

58. Clarke's First Law: When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.

59. I believe OS/2 is destined to be the most important operating system, and possibly program, of all time.

60. Spam will be a thing of the past in two years' time.

61. You may be sure that the Americans will commit all the stupidities they can think of, plus some that are beyond imagination.

62. If you wanna see the future, Go stare into a cloud.

63. The best qualification of a prophet is to have a good memory.

64. The best way to suppose what may come, is to remember what is past.

65. I can calculate the motions of the heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people.

66. In the first six to twelve months of a war with the United States and Great Britain I will run wild and win victory upon victory. But then, if the war continues after that, I have no expectation of success.

67. Clyde: I knew as soon as we got off the freeway, we'd run into trouble.

68. I think I know what happens.

69. Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.

70. I know I ain't going to fucking live to be an old man. I know that.

71. The Human League, Someday all music will be made like this!........and it is!

72. Any satirist writing a futuristic novel who had imagined a President Reagan during the Eisenhower years would have been accused of perpetrating a piece of crude, contemptible, adolescent anti-American wickedness, when, in fact, he would have succeeded, as prophetic sentry, where Orwell failed.

73. The likelihood is that, in 100,000 years time, we shall either have reverted to wild barbarism, or else civilisation will have advanced beyond all recognition - into colonies in outer space, for instance. In either case, evolutionary extrapolations from present conditions are likely to be highly misleading.

74. A rush of wind comes furiously now, down from the mountaintop. 'The ancient Greeks,' I say, 'who were the inventors of classical reason, knew better than to use it exclusively to foretell the future. They listened to the wind and predicted the future from that. That sounds insane now. But why should the inventors of reason sound insane?'

75. Civilization slipped into its second dark age on an unsurprising track of blood, but with a speed that could not have been foreseen by even the most pessimistic futurist. It was as if it had been waiting to go. On October 1, God was in His heaven, the stock market stood at 10,140, and most of the planes were on time (except for those landing and taking off in Chicago, and that was to be expected). Two weeks later the skies belonged to the birds again and the stock market was a memory. By Halloween, every major city from New York to Moscow stank to the empty heavens and the world as it had been was a memory.

76. 'Oh, this will be an ass-whippin' you'll never forget.'

77. This will end in tears.