GK Fear, Courage, and Action
Geoscience
Type Quotes
There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things, because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old condition, and lukewarm defenders in those who may do well under the new.
-N. Machiavelli, II. Principe
Creativity takes courage.
-Henri Matisse
It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.
-Leonardo da Vinci
Quote-Posters
Where oil is first found, in the final analysis, is in the minds of men. The undiscovered oil field exists only as an idea in the mind of some oil-finder. When no man any longer believes more oil is left to be found, no more oil fields will be discovered, but so long as a single oil-finder remains with a mental vision of a new oil field to cherish, along with freedom and incentive to explore, just so long new oil fields may continue to be discovered.
Wallace E. Pratt, l952, Petroleum Geologist
Hand-maiden to complacency in submerging creativity, is another human trait--fear of the unknown.
S. W. Totten
Men Wanted: For hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success.
-Ernest Shackleton
Prospecting for oil is a dynamic art… The greatest single element in all prospecting, past, present and future, is the man willing to take a chance.
-Everette De Golyer
Always remember it is not failure that keeps people from accomplishing great things. It is the fear of failure that stops them.
-Philip F. Anschutz
Major oil companies, Slow-moving, bureaucratic beasts,
aren’t inclined to take risks on unproven geological ideas.
-Kelly Gilblom of Robert Trice
We have an unknown distance yet to run, an unknown river to explore. What falls there are, we know not; what rocks beset the channel, we know not; what walls ride over the river, we know not. Ah, well! we may conjecture many things.
-John Wesley Powell
are many geological discovery tools rusting away in our kit for want of use. The need is for "creative" geology as compared with what may be called "routine" geology.
-A. I. Levorsen
An oilman is a breed of person. They know what they’re talking about, what they’re doing. There are no middlemen in this business; you go out by yourself.
It’s a gamble.
-Glenn McCarthy
Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off.
-Colin Powell
As subsurface explorationists, we are always keying off someone's dry hole. It should not make the prospect any less attractive because it happens to be your own dry hole.
-Jack Elam
All of this taught me, at the young age of 26, that it is often difficult to distinguish between a problem and an opportunity, that quick and decisive action normally pays huge dividends, and that nothing much of value is ever obtained without exposing oneself to large risks and suffering the added insult of both stupidity and failure if things don't work out as planned.
-Philip F. Anschutz
In reply, I can only plead that a discovery which seems to contradict the general tenor of previous investigations is naturally received with much hesitation.
-Charles Lyell
It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.
-Leonardo daVinci
I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.
-Leonardo daVinci
