Ada Lovelace Quotes

Forget this world and all its troubles and if possible
its multitudinous Charlatans
everything in short but
the Enchantress of Numbers. ~ Ada Lovelace

But the science of operations, as derived from mathematics more especially, is a science of itself, and has its own abstract truth and value; just as logic has its own peculiar truth and value, independently of the subjects to which we may apply its reasonings and processes. ~ Ada Lovelace

What is imagination?...
It is a God-like, a noble faculty. It renders earth tolerable, it teaches us to live, in the tone of the eternal. ~ Ada Lovelace

It may be desirable to explain, that by the word operation, we mean any process which alters the mutual relation of two or more things, be this relation of what kind it may. This is the most general definition, and would include all subjects in the universe. ~ Ada Lovelace

I am in a charming state of confusion. ~ Ada Lovelace

One essential object is to choose that arrangement which shall tend to reduce to a minimum the time necessary for completing the calculation. ~ Ada Lovelace

This one fact implies everything; and it is scarcely necessary to point out, for instance, that while the Difference Engine can merely tabulate, and is incapable of developing, the Analytical Engine can either tabulate or develope. ~ Ada Lovelace

If you can't give me poetry, can't you give me poetical science? ~ Ada Lovelace

The further we analyse the manner in which such an engine performs its processes and attains its results, the more we perceive how distinctly it places in a true and just light the mutual relations and connexion of the various steps of mathematical analysis; how clearly it separates those things which are in reality distinct and independent, and unites those which are mutually dependent. ~ Ada Lovelace

Your mum wrote that girls can do whatever," Ada continued. "Education. Profession."
Mary, now fully engaged, put down her book.
"My dear Ada, my mother wrote about how things ought to be, not how they are."
Ada continued looking displeased, which made Mary go on. "Of course, how are things to be the way they ought, unless we make them so? ~ Jordan Stratford

The Analytical Engine has no pretensions whatever to originate anything. It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform ... But it is likely to exert an indirect and reciprocal influence on science itself. ~ Ada Lovelace

In abstract mathematics, of course operations alter those particular relations which are involved in the considerations of number and space, and the results of operations are those peculiar results which correspond to the nature of the subjects of operation. ~ Ada Lovelace

Indeed we may consider the engine as the material and mechanical representative of analysis, and that our actual working powers in this department of human study will be enabled more effectually than heretofore to keep pace with our theoretical knowledge of its principles and laws, through the complete control which the engine gives us over the executive manipulation of algebraical and numerical symbols. ~ Ada Lovelace

The confusion, the difficulties, the contradictions which, in consequence of a want of accurate distinctions in this particular, have up to even a recent period encumbered mathematics in all those branches involving the consideration of negative and impossible quantities, will at once occur to the reader who is at all versed in this science, and would alone suffice to justify dwelling somewhat on the point, in connexion with any subject so peculiarly fitted to give forcible illustration of it as the Analytical Engine. ~ Ada Lovelace

With whomsoever or wheresoever may rest the present causes of difficulty that apparently exist towards either the completion of the old engine, or the commencement of the new one, we trust they will not ultimately result in this generation's being acquainted with these inventions through the medium of pen, ink and paper merely; and still more do we hope, that for the honour of our country's reputation in the future pages of history, these causes will not lead to the completion of the undertaking by some other nation or government. ~ Ada Lovelace

A new, a vast, and a powerful language is developed for the future use of analysis, in which to wield its truths so that these may become of more speedy and accurate practical application for the purposes of mankind than the means hitherto in our possession have rendered possible. ~ Ada Lovelace

As soon as I have got flying to perfection, I have got a scheme about a steam engine. ~ Ada Lovelace

Secondly, figures, the symbols of numerical magnitude, are frequently also the symbols of operations, as when they are the indices of powers. Wherever terms have a shifting meaning, independent sets of considerations are liable to become complicated together, and reasoning and results are frequently falsified. ~ Ada Lovelace

We cannot forbear suggesting one practical result which it appears to us must be greatly facilitated by the independent manner in which the engine orders and combines its operations: we allude to the attainment of those combinations into which imaginary quantities enter. ~ Ada Lovelace

The intellectual, the moral, the religious seem to me all naturally bound up and interlinked together in one great and harmonious whole. ~ Ada Lovelace

In enabling mechanism to combine together general symbols in successions of unlimited variety and extent, a uniting link is established between the operations of matter and the abstract mental processes of the most abstract branch of mathematical science. ~ Ada Lovelace

That brain of mine is something more than merely mortal, as time will show. ~ Ada Lovelace

It is however pretty evident, on general principles, that in devising for mathematical truths a new form in which to record and throw themselves out for actual use, views are likely to be induced, which should again react on the more theoretical phase of the subject. ~ Ada Lovelace

I don't wish to be without my brains, tho' they doubtless interfere with a blind faith which would be very comfortable ~ Ada Lovelace

We might even invent laws for series or formula in an arbitrary manner, and set the engine to work upon them, and thus deduce numerical results which we might not otherwise have thought of obtaining; but this would hardly perhaps in any instance be productive of any great practical utility, or calculated to rank higher than as a philosophical amusement. ~ Ada Lovelace

The Analytical Engine, on the contrary, can either add, subtract, multiply or divide with equal facility; and performs each of these four operations in a direct manner, without the aid of any of the other three. ~ Ada Lovelace

I have got a scheme to make a thing in the form of a horse with a steam engine in the inside so contrived as to move an immense pair of wings, fixed on the outside of the horse, in such a manner as to carry it up into the air while a person sits on its back. ~ Ada Lovelace

Julia was as happy as Betsy was, almost. One nice thing about Julia was that she rejoiced in other people's luck. ~ Maud Hart Lovelace

As a teacher, his task was not to make policy but to follow the policy made by the Department. ~ Earl Lovelace

Spiritual life flows out of union with Christ, not merely imitation of Christ. ~ Richard F. Lovelace

If I had to, I was going to rip every inch of me open, give him as much blood as he needed to survive. ~ Ada Adams

Today,
i love the way i look in my sundress & it's not because someone else convinced me to. ~ Amanda Lovelace

Jon gave Simon a patronizing pat on the shoulder. "I'm going to miss your witty repartee this summer, Lewis."
"I'm going to hope you get eaten by a spider demon this summer, Cartwright."
George slipped an arm around both of them, grinning maniacally and humming "Can You Feel the Love Tonight? ~ Cassandra Clare

Failure is part of being human, and it is definitely part of being married. ~ Ada Calhoun

I want to say that one day you and your husband will fight about missed flights, and you'll find yourself wistful for the days when you had to pay for only your own mistakes. I want to say that at various points in your marriage, may it last forever, you will look at this person and feel only rage. You will gaze at this man you once adored and think, It sure would be nice to have this whole place to myself. ~ Ada Calhoun

Depression is a painfully slow, crashing death. Mania is the other extreme, a wild roller coaster run off its tracks, an eight ball of coke cut with speed. It's fun and it's frightening as hell. Some patients - bipolar type I - experience both extremes; other - bipolar type II - suffer depression almost exclusively. But the "mixed state," the mercurial churning of both high and low, is the most dangerous, the most deadly. Suicide too often results from the impulsive nature and physical speed of psychotic mania coupled with depression's paranoid self-loathing. ~ David Lovelace

your death certificate makes the claim that you died on november 3rd at 3:03 AM. that is a lie. you died long before that. - 3 isn't my lucky number anymore. ~ Amanda Lovelace

Here is my sacrifice: my hummingbird landing in a stranger's palm. ~ Ada Limon

After Saachi left, the Ada sank even more into her books, by instinct, separating herself from this world and disappearing into others. She read everywhere: on the toilet, at the dining table, in the library before school assembly each morning. It is not clear how much saving these books were capable of. ~ Akwaeke Emezi

Deep down, we're all some kind of crazy, Ada. ~ Laura Miller

Dating is poetry. Marriage is a novel. There are times, maybe years, that are all exposition. ~ Ada Calhoun

The dreams fresh on her mind, she wrote about the Ada she remembered. The obituary wasn't the sad, plodding list of mother and father, dead children, and surviving family. It honored a strong, funny woman. She proofed it a second time with a smile on her face. Ada would have slapped her knee and crowed along with her. ~ Laura Trentham

i didn't come here
to be civil.
i didn't come here
to sit you down
with a mug of tea
& a blueberry muffin
to coddle you as
i try to convince you
that respecting
my existence is essential,
you've had plenty
of chances
& you took a
hard pass every time,
so i came here
to watch your anger overtake
until you finally
combust. ~ Amanda Lovelace

They managed to describe fifteen different weapons you're an expert in, but they couldn't even mention that I'm running for prom queen?" Brooke moaned. ~ Ada Adams

His book, The Dreams of Ada, was published by Viking in April 1987 and was greatly anticipated by the town. ~ John Grisham

No one comes to stone the servant when they could watch the execution of the king. ~ Ada Palmer

Alone! Alone! No beacon, far or near! No chart, no compass, and no anchor stay! ~ Ada Cambridge

...this life is a fist
of fast wishes caught by nothing
but the fishhook of tomorrow's tug. ~ Ada Limon

As married people, we dwell on a spectrum between happy and unhappy, in love and out of love, and we move back and forth on that line decade by decade, year by year, week by week, even hour by hour. ~ Ada Calhoun

Have you come to help Me?"

The sensayer waited, uncertain whether the words were meant for her. "Help you how?" she asked.

The stone-still Speaker did not turn. "To understand the God Who made this portrait of Himself."

Carlyle looked to the altarpiece, the choirs of Heaven shimmering in their concentric circles of cracking paint and gold. "People made that, human beings searching for their own understanding."

"If God made Man and Man made this, it is still a Self-portrait. ~ Ada Palmer

She is like the morning," he said. "With that golden hair, those blue eyes, and that fresh bloom on her cheek, she is like the summer morning. The birds here will mistake her for it. We will not call such a lovely young creature as that, who is a joy to all mankind, an orphan. She is the child of the universe. ~ Charles Dickens

I mean, it's hard to talk about death without realizing that's our end too, right? I am constantly aware of death. It's not that I want to be, but it's a fascination of the mind and it plays a role in why I want to live my life a certain way. The more I am aware of my mortality the better person I am and the better I am at choosing a life that is aware of its beauty. ~ Ada Limon

Her grandfather's books [ ... ] opened before Ada, a world whose colours were so dazzling that reality paled in comparison and faded away. Boris Godunov, Satan, Athalia, King Lear: they all spoke words charged with meaning; every syllable was inexpressively precious ~ Irene Nemirovsky

Real serious waiting is done in waiting rooms, and what they all have in common is their purpose, or purposelessness, if you will; they are places for doing nothing and they have no life of their own ... their one constant is what might be called a decorative rigor mortis ... ~ Ada Louise Huxtable

...even good marriages sometimes involve flinging a remote control at the wall. ~ Ada Calhoun

you are so much more than the rippling fallacies
your reflection whispers to you.
those demons that lurk beneath the surface
do not know you
even though they pretend to.
and someday,
though it feels impossible,
you will see yourself as i do.
when time has finally finished healing your scars,
your siren call will scream 'I AM GOOD ENOUGH!'
and even your bewitching smile will shine through.
but until that day, the day you are okay, just keep singing yourself to sleep.
And eventually, your monsters will stop haunting you.
- trust me. ~ Amanda Lovelace

once upon a time, the princess rose from the ashes her dragon lovers made of her & crowned herself the mother-fucking queen of herself. - how's that for a happily ever after? ~ Amanda Lovelace

there is no slow blast of fireworks. there are no heartstrings finally coming to relax underneath the table between us. there is no magical moment of lost love found. inside this, we are not allie & noah. no, in this moment i am allie & you are lon. or maybe you are noah & i'm martha. i can't be certain. ~ Amanda Lovelace

wishing upon every shooting star isn't the way your dreams will come true. taking your fate into your own hands is how your dreams will come true. so work hard. work harder. work even harder. - make it happen. ~ Amanda Lovelace

Wherever they might be they always remember that the past was a lie, that memory has no return, that every spring gone by could never be recovered, and that the wildest and most tenacious love was an ephemeral truth in the end. ~ Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The boring parts don't last forever. In retrospect, they aren't even boring. ~ Ada Calhoun

for a time, it seemed to me that we were starlight-touched, failing to realize that we were actually star-crossed ~ Amanda Lovelace

Father Nicanor was against a religious ceremony and burial in consecrated ground.
Ursula stood up to him. In a way that neither you nor I can understand, that man was a saint, ~ Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Golden Ages always end with Dark ones. ~ Ada Palmer

he did not teach me how to love myself, but he was the bridge that helped me get here. - i thank the universe every day for you. ~ Amanda Lovelace

Oh, alright," I conceded. "But if you try something, I swear I'll use my pet dagger to cut off - "
"I said I'd behave! Though, you're making it kinda hard to be good with all that talk of wanting to have your way with me."
I released my grip on his neck and smacked the top of his head. ~ Ada Adams

Between the tragedies and heroics there are the everyday banalities of war. ~ Ada Maria Soto

be
victorious
in
everything
you do.
disturb the gods,
if that's what
it takes.
& maybe
especially then. ~ Amanda Lovelace