To most outsiders, modern mathematics is unkown territory. Its borders are protected by dense thickets of technical terms; its landscapes are a mass of indecipherable equations and incomprehensible concepts. Few realize that the world of modern mathematics is rich with vivid images and provocative ideas. Ivars Peterson, The Mathematical Tourist
For when there are no words [accompanying music], it is very difficult to recognize the meaning of the harmony and rhythm, or to see any worldly object is imitated by them. Plato
... this grand book [the universe] - which stands continuously open to our gaze, but it cannot be understood unless one first learns to comprehend the language in which it is written. It is written in the language of mathematics, and its characters are triangles, circles and other geometrical figures, without which it is humanly impossible to understand a single word of it; without these, one is wandering about in a dark labyrinth. Galileo (1623)
Would I have a choice between betraying my country and betraying my friends I hope I have the courage to betray my country E.M.Foster (Two cheers for democracy, What I believe)
... This process of constructing instruction tables should be very fascinating. There need be no real danger of it ever becoming a drudge, for any processes that are quite mechanical may be turned over to the machine itself. Alan Turing
I don't think New York City is like other cities. It does not have character like Los Angeles or New Orleans. It is all characters - in fact, it is everything. It can destroy a man, but if his eyes are open it cannot bore him. New York is an ugly city, a dirty city. Its climate is a scandal, its politics are used to frighten children, its traffic is madness, its competition is murderous. But there is one thing about it - once you have lived in New York and it has become your home, no place else is good enough. John Steinbeck, 1953 (in New York Times, Autobiography: Making of a New Yorker )
Some of you young folks been saying to me, 'Hey Pops, what you mean what a wonderful world? How about all them wars all over the place? You call them wonderful? And how about hunger and pollution? They ain't so wonderful either.' But how about listening to old Pops for a minute. It seems to me it ain't the world that's so bad, but what we're doing to it, and all I'm saying is see what a wonderful world it would be if only we'd give it a chance. Love, baby, love. That's the secret. Yeah. If lots more of us loved each other, we'd solve lots more problems. And man, this world would be a gasser. Louis Armstrong, 1970 (from http://independentmusician.com/louis/)
Deutsch, aber glücklich. (German, but happy.) Bernd Ulrich
Brian:
Look... you've got it all wrong. You don't need to follow me. You
don't need to follow anybody. You've got to think for yourselves.
You're all individuals.
Crowd:
Yes, we're all individuals.
Brian:
You're all different.
Crowd:
Yes, we are all different.
Dennis:
I'm not.
Crowd:
Sssshhh!
Monty Python in: Life of Brian
To every man is given the key to the gates of heaven; the same key opens the gates of hell. Buddhist proverb
I don't believe in the idea that there are a few peculiar people capable of understanding math, and the rest of the world is normal. Feynmann, in an interview with Omni
LTCM's mathematics may have been impeccable but alas, the universe is marginally flawed. Patrick Young in: erivativesreview.com
To those who do not know mathematics it is difficult to get across a real feeling as to the beauty, the deepest beauty, of nature ... If you want to learn about nature, to appreciate nature, it is necessary to understand the language that she speaks in. Richard Feynmann in: The Character of Physical Law
This man, Manil Suri, 41, a professor of mathematics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, who was in Bombay visiting his parents in December, looks simultaneously too stylish for a mathematician and too precise for a novelist. Stacey D'Erasmo in the New York Times book review, January 28, 2001.
I don't make things complicated, they get that way all by themselves. Mel Gibson's character in one of the Lethal Weapon movies.
"Deserves" got nothing to do with it. Clint Eastwood's character in "Unforgiven"
Only the mediocre are always at their best. Jean Giraudoux
Having a bad day? It takes 42 muscles to frown, but only 4 to pull the trigger of a decent sniper rifle. Dr. John D. Taylor
Jesus said to them: "Who do you say that I am?" They replied: "You are the eschatological manifestation of the ground of our being, the character of which we find the ultimate meaning in our interpersonal relationships." And Jesus said: "What?"
Es geht alles Schritt für Schritt, jeder macht immer und überall seine Schritte, solange er kann. Erst hinterher rundet sich das zu einem Ganzen und erscheint wie Schicksal. Aus einem Artikel von Peter Michalzik in der TAZ vom 4.Mai 1996 über Imre Kertesz's "Roman eines Schicksallosen".
Translation into English (mine): Everything happens step by step. Everybody makes steps all the time and everywhere, as long as he can. Only afterwards a whole emerges and appears like destiny. From an article of Peter Michalzik in the TAZ of May 4th 1996 about Imre Kertesz's book about his experiences in Auschwitz.
Calvin: What's it like to fall in love?
Hobbes:
First, your heart falls into your stomach and splashes your innards.
All the moisture makes you sweat profusely. This condensation shorts
out the circuits to your brain and you get all woozy. When your brain
burns out altogether, your mouth disengages and you babble like a
cretin....
Youth and skill are no match for experience and treachery.
There would be no society if living together depended upon understanding each other. Eric Hoffer
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it. George Bernard Shaw
Freedom is just chaos with better lighting. Alan Dean Foster
Reality is whatever refuses to go away when I stop believing in it. Philip K. Dick
There is only one religion, though there are a hundred versions of it. George Bernard Shaw
Status quo -you know- is Latin for 'the mess we're in.' Ronald Reagan
Calvin:
Do you believe in the devil? You know, a supreme evil being
dedicated to the temptation, corruption, and destruction of man?
Hobbes: I'm not sure that man needs the help.
My religiosity consists in a humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit that reveals itself in the little that we, with our weak and transitory understanding, can comprehend of reality. Morality is of the highest importance -- but for us, not for God. Albert Einstein
Invisible Pink Unicorns are beings of awesome mystical power. We know this because they manage to be invisible and pink at the same time. Like all religions, the Faith of the Invisible Pink Unicorns is based upon both logic and faith. We have faith that they are pink; we logically know that they are invisible because we can't see them. Steve Eley
You see, one thing is, I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it's much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong. I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of uncertainty about different things, but I am not absolutely sure of anything and there are many things I don't know anything about, such as whether it means anything to ask why we're here... I don't have to know an answer. I don't feel frightened not knowing things, by being lost in a mysterious universe without any purpose, which is the way it really is as far as I can tell. It doesn't frighten me. Richard P. Feynmann
We must conduct research and then accept the results. If they don't stand up to experimentation, Buddha's own words must be rejected. Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama, 'Time' April 11, 1988
We didn't send you to Washington to make intelligent decisions. We sent you to represent us. Kent York, Baptist minister to US Rep. Bill Sarpalius
In God we trust, all others must have data.
Extremists, often displaying unpredictable behavior, should be avoided. US-State-Department-Travel-Advisories for Germany, Feb. 10 ,1995