shf@well.UUCP (Stuart H. Ferguson) (11/18/88)
Sorry if this is not appropriate for this group, but I'm looking for a reference to a couple of quotes that (I think) I heard sometime in this newsgroup. They related to tools and went something like: If the only tool you have is an axe, every problem looks like a tree. If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend four hours sharpening my axe. Does anyone know the exact quotes and who said them? Thanx in advance. -- Stuart Ferguson (shf@well.UUCP) Action by HAVOC (shf@wso.Stanford.EDU)
jsdy@hadron.UUCP (Joseph S. D. Yao) (11/22/88)
In article <7675@well.UUCP> shf@well.UUCP (Stuart H. Ferguson) writes: >reference to a couple of quotes ... > If the only tool you have is an axe, every problem looks like > a tree. This is a re-phrase of an old proverb out of "folk wisdom". I've heard it more often phrased with a hammer and nail, though. + If I had six hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend four hours + sharpening my axe. I hadn't heard this one before, but I'm glad I have now! Joe Yao jsdy@hadron.COM (not yet domainised) hadron!jsdy@{uunet.UU.NET,dtix.ARPA,decuac.DEC.COM} arinc,att,avatar,blkcat,cos,decuac,dtix,\ ecogong,empire,gong,grebyn,inco,insight, \!hadron!jsdy kcwc,lepton,netex,netxcom,phw5,rlgvax, / seismo,sms,smsdpg,sundc,uunet / (POSSIBLY OUT OF DATE)