Danish quotation.

[Jon Haugsand]

Who said "Prediction is difficult, especially of the future"?
(Or "Det er vanskelig at spaa, isaer om fremtiden".)

Thanks!

--
Jon Haugsand
Dept. of Informatics, Univ. of Oslo, Norway, mailto:jon...@ifi.uio.no
http://www.ifi.uio.no/~jonhaug/, Pho/fax: +47-22852441/+47-22852401
Addr: Bredo Stabells v.15, N-0853 OSLO, NORWAY, Phone: +47-22952152

[Martin William Smith]

Jon Haugsand writes:
> Who said "Prediction is difficult, especially of the future"?

Yogi Berra?

martin

--
Martin Smith Email: m...@metis.no
P.O. Box 1034 Bekkajordet Tel. : +47 330 46900
N-3194 HORTEN, Norway Fax. : +47 330 42297

[Aron Felix Gurski]

Jon Haugsand wrote:
>
> Who said "Prediction is difficult, especially of the future"?

> (Or "Det er vanskelig at spaa, isaer om fremtiden".)
>
> Thanks!
>
> --
> Jon Haugsand
> Dept. of Informatics, Univ. of Oslo, Norway, mailto:jon...@ifi.uio.no
> http://www.ifi.uio.no/~jonhaug/, Pho/fax: +47-22852441/+47-22852401
> Addr: Bredo Stabells v.15, N-0853 OSLO, NORWAY, Phone: +47-22952152

I don't know, but it *should* have been Piet Hein.

-- Aron

[Jari Oksanen]

>Jon Haugsand wrote:
>>
>> Who said "Prediction is difficult, especially of the future"?
>> (Or "Det er vanskelig at spaa, isaer om fremtiden".)
>>

In Finland they think this is a Finnish wisdomt, and it is attributed to Dr
Ahti Karjalainen, who was one of the brightest minds in Finnish politics.

Cheers,
--- Jari Oksanen Tromssa, Ruija / Romsa, Norga / Tromsø, Norge

[Martin Smith]

I thought Heisenberg said this, but I am not sure.

[Ole Nielsby]

Aron Felix Gurski <agu...@sn.no> wrote:
>Jon Haugsand wrote:
>>
>> Who said "Prediction is difficult, especially of the future"?
>> (Or "Det er vanskelig at spaa, isaer om fremtiden".)
>>

>> Thanks!
>>
>> --
>> Jon Haugsand
>> Dept. of Informatics, Univ. of Oslo, Norway, mailto:jon...@ifi.uio.no
>> http://www.ifi.uio.no/~jonhaug/, Pho/fax: +47-22852441/+47-22852401
>> Addr: Bredo Stabells v.15, N-0853 OSLO, NORWAY, Phone: +47-22952152

>I don't know, but it *should* have been Piet Hein.

> -- Aron
The "Bevingede ord" ("Winged Words") dictionary of quotations
(5th ed., GAD, 1979) says:

ENGLISH: (xl by me)

"Prediction is difficult - especially of the future" - is of unknown
origin and certainly not by Storm Petersen, to whom it is always
accredited. The phrase possibly occurred as a pun in the danish parlament
1935-39; it is quoted as such in the 4th book of memoirs by K.K. Steincke
[social democrat MP and minister], *Goodbye and thanks*, p227; 1948,
which covers aforementioned period of time. The originator was queried in
public, but nobody seemed to know him. - On inquiry, Steincke (1880-1963)
stated that he did not remember who it was.

DANISH:
"Det er svært at spå - især om fremtiden" - er af ukendt oprindelse og i
hvert fald ikke af Storm Petersen, som altid får skyld for sætningen. Den
er muligvis forefaldet som en sprogblomst i Folketinget 1935-39, gengives
i hvert fald som sådan i K.K. Steincke's fjerde erindringsbog *Farvel og
tak*, 227; 1948, som omfatter nævnte tidsrum. Ophavsmanden har været
offentligt efterlyst, men ingen synes at kende ham. - Steincke (1880-1963)
har på forespørgsel oplyst, at han ikke huskede hvem det var.

Ole Nielsby

[Jens Chr. Madsen]

In article <dmsp9g7...@ejkthyrnir.ifi.uio.no> Jon Haugsand <jon...@ejkthyrnir.ifi.uio.no> writes:
>
>
>Who said "Prediction is difficult, especially of the future"?

>(Or "Det er vanskelig at spå, især om fremtiden".)
>
>Thanks!

This was said by Robert Storm Petersen (a Danish humorist,
author and cartoonist, often called simply "Storm P.").

Many people in the scientific community, especially those
working with prediction of protein folding patterns, have
incorrectly attributed this quote to Niels Bohr. I could
well imagine that the quote was very much to Niels Bohr's
taste and that he used it on a number of occasions, but
it doesn't originate from him.

Follow-up to soc.culture.nordic.

Best regards,
--
Jens Chr. Madsen mad...@scripps.edu
San Diego, California http://www.scripps.edu/~madsen