Coordinates: 52°29′56″N 1°56′17″W / 52.498959°N 1.937968°W / 52.498959; -1.937968 James Watt's Mad Machine is a set of sculptural railings and gates at Winson Green Metro station, Winson Green, Birmingham, England, designed by Tim Tolkien, supported by Eric Klein Velderman, Paula Woof and pupils at James Watt Infants and Junior Schools, with whose site it forms a boundary.
It is inspired by the inventions of James Watt, who lived and worked nearby.
Famous quotes containing the words james, watt, mad and/or machine:
“That reality is ‘independent’ means that there is something in every experience that escapes our arbitrary control. If it be a sensible experience it coerces our attention; if a sequence, we cannot invert it; if we compare two terms we can come to only one result. There is a push, an urgency, within our very experience, against which we are on the whole powerless, and which drives us in a direction that is the destiny of our belief.”
—William James (1842–1910)
“Herein is the explanation of the analogies, which exist in all the arts. They are the re-appearance of one mind, working in many materials to many temporary ends. Raphael paints wisdom, Handel sings it, Phidias carves it, Shakspeare writes it, Wren builds it, Columbus sails it, Luther preaches it, Washington arms it, Watt mechanizes it. Painting was called “silent poetry,” and poetry “speaking painting.” The laws of each art are convertible into the laws of every other.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Lit shelved liners
Grope like mad worlds westward.”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“Goodbye, boys; I’m under arrest. I may have to go to jail. I may not see you for a long time. Keep up the fight! Don’t surrender! Pay no attention to the injunction machine at Parkersburg. The Federal judge is a scab anyhow. While you starve he plays golf. While you serve humanity, he serves injunctions for the money powers.”
—Mother Jones (1830–1930)