"The 350-mile detour in the Trans-Siberian Railway was caused by the Tsar, who drew the proposed route using a ruler with a notch in it." -- Not 1982
What's the source for this? Googling "Not 1982" is not helpful... I did find the following amusing quote though:
His engineers were once consulting [Tsar Nicholas] as to the expediency of taking the line from St Petersburg to Moscow by a slight detour to avoid some very troublesome obstacles. The Tsar took up a ruler and with his pencil drew a straight line from the old metropolis. Handing back the chart he peremptorily said "There, gentlemen, that is to be the route for the line!"
A monthly thread for posting rationality-related quotes you've seen recently (or had stored in your quotesfile for ages).