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Comment by mbell | Hacker News Reader

"Any idiot can build a bridge that stands, but it takes an engineer to build a bridge that barely stands."

- Someone

Your quote is better, but for people that have a hard time with that analogy, I like using the example of building a 4-story concrete/brick building - anyone can make a building stand strong by filling it with concrete / bricks. It takes precise engineering to know how thin you can make the walls/supports to make that building worth building.

If you just mindlessly fill everything with bricks and concrete, you likely need to make the lower walls thicker than the upper ones to support the weight...

The whole engineering process can be done without ever looking at the budget as long as the framework is given ("use these materials", "you have this much space").

And who came up with that framework?

With different constraints...

"The perfect race car crosses the finish line first and then completely disintegrates"

- Ferdinand Porsche

(I took some liberty with the translation - the idea is that everything breaks at the same time.)

"The perfect racing car crosses the finish line first and subsequently falls into its component parts." ?

* https://quotefancy.com/quote/1791488/Ferdinand-Porsche-The-p...

"An engineer can do for a dime, what any idiot can do for a dollar" - Someone else

[edit] Achshually "An engineer can do for a dollar what any fool can do for two" - Arthur C. Wellington

Brilliant!

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