The worst thing in the world that can happen to you if you're an engineer that has given his life to something is for someone to rip it off and put their name to it.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I used to be an engineer, and I was the worst engineer in the United States of America. That's why I became a comic.
The great liability of the engineer compared to men of other professions is that his works are out in the open where all can see them. His acts, step by step, are in hard substance. He cannot bury his mistakes in the grave like the doctors. He cannot argue them into thin air or blame the judge like the lawyers.
Putting your name on something and having no idea how it came about if someone else did all the work - that's not me.
The fact that I spent my life in universities in a manner that I no longer have close identification with bricklayers is a pain to me.
The worst thing you can think about when you're working is yourself.
The worst thing one can do is not to try, to be aware of what one wants and not give in to it, to spend years in silent hurt wondering if something could have materialized - never knowing.
The worst thing you could ever get is people who think they know everything.
You see, my ambition was not to confound the engineering world but simply to create a beautiful piece of art.
I went to engineering school, which I thought was what I wanted to do, for about two weeks. We had an orientation class and we met this guy where he worked and stuff and it was cool, but I was like, 'There is no way this is going to be my life.'
If the worst thing that can happen is that nobody laughs, then I can deal with that, because the worst thing that can happen at the factory is that I could lose a limb or be crushed by a huge machine.