Quotable

Quotable Drilling Engineering Professor:

"An Engineer without a calculator is like a cop without a gun"

"An Engineering Degree is not a licence to kill people."

"Blowouts never 'just happen'."

"Two things screw up in the Oil Patch: O-Rings and Engineers."

"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur."

"If You think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." - Red Adair (who knew something about cleaning up expensive messes).  

"God help us, we're in the hands of engineers"

"God help us, we're in the hands of engineers." - Dr. Ian Malcom, Jurrassic Park.  

Somewhat related to the last engineering saying...

Engineering Sayings: "Failure is ALWAYS an Option" (H/T Mythbusters)

"Failure is ALWAYS an option"

(H/T Mythbusters)

The stylish version here.

The application to engineering practice discussed here.  

"It is what it is."

Indicates that just because customer doesn't like the answer, the laws of physics must prevail.

H/T Tim.

"Rust Never Sleeps"

It slowly eats away at steel night and day; See about the rusty pumps for one example.

"Model Bloat"/"Keep the Weight Down"/"Put the project on a diet"

Weight managment is especially key on thing where weight-performance tradeoffs are key (like cars, planes, rockets).

"Just because 1 woman can make a baby in 9 months doesn't mean that 9 women can make a baby in 1 month.

On the problems with 'fast-tracking' projects. See also: The Mythical Man-Month.

Engineering Sayings:2

Fast, Good, Cheap... Pick 2.

Engineering and especially project management is often the art of compromise. You'll almost always be short on something/pressed on something. A good engineer doesn't give up or put out a crap product, but he will, for instance exceed his budget when crunched of schedule.

Engineering Sayings: 1

"Belts and Suspenders"

Multiple, redundant safety systems.  Also sometimes overkill.

Ex.- How can you pick a conservative engineer out of a crowd?  He wears both a belt and suspenders to keep his pants from falling off.