Some thoughts for research students

His study was a total mess, like the results of an explosion in a public library. (Douglas Adams)

The more a subject is understood, the more briefly it may be explained.
(Thomas Jefferson, 1816)
(I love that one!!! Me and TJ must think alike - maybe because we're fellow alumni...)

To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.

The sooner you fall behind the more time you'll have to catch up.

42.7 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.
Correction: In fact 67% of all statistics are made up on the spot! Who'd've thunk it? Thanks Cliff - good chuckle!

Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.

Indecision is the key to flexibility.

It hurts to be on the cutting edge.

If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something.

A ship in harbor is safe.....but that is not what ships are for.

There is absolutely no substitute for a genuine lack of preparation.

When the only tool you own is a hammer, every problem begins to resemble a nail.

Vail's Second Axiom: The amount of work to be done increases in proportion to the amount of work already completed.

You can't tell which way the train went by looking at the track.

I'm writing a thesis.... I've got the page numbers done.

I am returning this otherwise good typing paper to you because someone has printed gibberish all over it and put your name at the top. -- English Professor, Ohio University

If at first you do succeed, try not to look astonished.

If you have a penny and I have a penny and we exchange pennies, you still have one cent and I still have one cent. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange ideas, you now have two ideas and I now have two ideas.