I came across these quotes in handouts distributed in classroom, from conversations with professors, or elsewhere. When first seeing them, I hardly resonated. From time to time, however, they hit me and gave me the AHA moments.
Essentially, all models are wrong, but some are useful.
George E.P. Box, British Statistician
Engineering is the art of modelling materials we do not wholly understand, into shapes we cannot precisely analyse, so as to withstand forces we cannot properly assess, in such a way that the public has no reason to suspect the extent of our ignorance.
A. R. Dykes, British Institution of Structural Engineers
As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.
Albert Einstein