Isambard Kingdom Brunel

We are not building for today, but for the centuries to come.

The only way to ensure safety is to understand danger.

I have been called rash, but my rashness is the result of calculation.

The engineer's first duty is to nature; he must work with her, not against her.

A straight line is not always the shortest distance between two points when you have to contend with nature.

I measure my success not by the projects completed, but by the problems solved.

The world is moved by big ideas and the men who have the courage to execute them.

There is no engineering without experiment, and no experiment without risk.

I would build a bridge to the moon if there were a need for it.

The test of a great design is that it seems inevitable.

Do not fear criticism; fear only the absence of it, for that means your work is beneath notice.

Steam is the giant slave of man, and we are only beginning to learn his strength.

I have sometimes failed, but I have never yielded.

The greatest structures are those that serve the greatest number.