Alan Turing quotes

Born
23 June, 1912 Maida Vale, London, England, United Kingdom.

Died
7 June, 1954.

Occupation
Computer scientist, mathematician.

Alan Mathison Turing was an English computer scientist, mathematician. He was highly influential in the development of theoretical computer science, providing a formalisation of the concepts of algorithm and computation with the Turing machine.

I believe that at the end of the century the use of words and general educated opinion will have altered so much that one will be able to speak of machines thinking without expecting to be contradicted.
– Alan Turing

I have such a stressful job that the only way I can get it out of my mind is by running hard.
– Alan Turing

No, I’m not interested in developing a powerful brain…
– Alan Turing

Programming is a skill best acquired by practice and example rather than from books.
– Alan Turing

Science is a differential equation. Religion is a boundary condition.
– Alan Turing

If a machine is expected to be infallible, it cannot also be intelligent.
– Alan Turing

A very large part of space-time must be investigated, if reliable results are to be obtained.
– Alan Turing

No, I’m not interested in developing a powerful brain. All I’m after is just a mediocre brain, something like the President of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company.
– Alan Turing

Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine.
– Alan Turing

We are not interested in the fact that the brain has the consistency of cold porridge.
– Alan Turing

I have had a dream indicating rather clearly that I am on the way to being hetero, though I don’t accept it with much enthusiasm either awake or in the dreams.
– Alan Turing

We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.
– Alan Turing

A computer would deserve to be called intelligent if it could deceive a human into believing that it was human.
– Alan Turing

Those who can imagine anything, can create the impossible.
– Alan Turing

I want a permanent relationship, and I might feel inclined to reject anything which of its nature could not be permanent.
– Alan Turing

The original question, ‘Can machines think?’ I believe to be too meaningless to deserve discussion.
– Alan Turing

One day ladies will take their computers for walks in the park and tell each other, My little computer said such a funny thing this morning.
– Alan Turing

The idea behind digital computers may be explained by saying that these machines are intended to carry out any operations which could be done by a human computer.
– Alan Turing

Machines take me by surprise with great frequency.
– Alan Turing

Mathematical reasoning may be regarded rather schematically as the exercise of a combination of two facilities, which we may call intuition and ingenuity.
– Alan Turing

Codes are a puzzle. A game, just like any other game.
– Alan Turing