Rationality Quotes Thread May 2015

Vaniver

Another month, another rationality quotes thread. The rules are:

Please post all quotes separately, so that they can be upvoted or downvoted separately. (If they are strongly related, reply to your own comments. If strongly ordered, then go ahead and post them together.)
Do not quote yourself.
Do not quote from Less Wrong itself, HPMoR, Eliezer Yudkowsky, or Robin Hanson. If you'd like to revive an old quote from one of those sources, please do so here.
No more than 5 quotes per person per monthly thread, please.
Provide sufficient information (URL, title, date, page number, etc.) to enable a reader to find the place where you read the quote, or its original source if available. Do not quote with only a name.

Another month, another rationality quotes thread. The rules are:

Please post all quotes separately, so that they can be upvoted or downvoted separately. (If they are strongly related, reply to your own comments. If strongly ordered, then go ahead and post them together.)
Do not quote yourself.
Do not quote from Less Wrong itself, HPMoR, Eliezer Yudkowsky, or Robin Hanson. If you'd like to revive an old quote from one of those sources, please do so here.
No more than 5 quotes per person per monthly thread, please.
Provide sufficient information (URL, title, date, page number, etc.) to enable a reader to find the place where you read the quote, or its original source if available. Do not quote with only a name.

“Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others.”

-- Otto von Bismarck

The German original is somewhat stronger:

"Ihr seid alle Idioten zu glauben, aus Eurer Erfahrung etwas lernen zu können, ich ziehe es vor, aus den Fehlern anderer zu lernen, um eigene Fehler zu vermeiden."

German is my third language, and since 2009 I am learning Austrian German by immersion, so for just some idle Friday fun I will now try to translate that to Viennese:

"Ihr soid olle Depperten zu glauben, aus Eurer Erfohrung wos zu lernen zu gön, i zieh es vu, aus den Fühlern ondrer zu lernen, um oigene Fühler zu vüümoiden."

3Silver_Swift11y

I prefer the English translation, it's more direct, though it does lack the bit about avoiding your own mistakes. A more literal translation for those that don't speak German: [...] Note: I'm not a German speaker, what I know of the language is from three years of high school classes taken over a decade ago, but I think this translation is more or less correct.