David Mumford Quotes
Algebraic geometry seems to have acquired the reputation of being esoteric, exclusive, and very abstract, with adherents who are secretly plotting to take over all the rest of mathematics. In one respect this last point is accurate.
Quotes to Explore
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I was fortunate to find an extraordinary mathematics and applied mathematics program in Toronto.
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Pure mathematics is on the whole distinctly more useful than applied. For what is useful above all is technique, and mathematical technique is taught mainly through pure mathematics.
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Now, my father Matthias was not only eminent on account of is nobility, but had a higher commendation on account of his righteousness, and was in great reputation in Jerusalem, the greatest city we have.
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In a way my reputation has become that of the curmudgeon.
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A novelist who writes nothing for 10 years finds his reputation rising. Because I keep on producing books they say there must be something wrong with this fellow.
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Poetry is a form of mathematics, a highly rigorous relationship with words.
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I wanted to be a painter, somewhere between Abstract Expressionism and Pop.
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I have the reputation of being easygoing. But inside, I'm like nails. I will kill.
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Consequently he who wishes to attain to human perfection, must therefore first study Logic, next the various branches of Mathematics in their proper order, then Physics, and lastly Metaphysics.
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You know what the critics are. If you tell the truth they only say you're cynical and it does an author no good to get a reputation for cynicism.
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I had a national and international reputation. I had written the history and articles. So I brought to the Trotskyist movement some international reputation.
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I first knew Laurie Lewis by her considerable reputation as a fiddle player and a writer of songs. When an opportunity came along to sing with her I seized it. Getting to know her as a singer and a person has been pure pleasure. Her voice is a rare combination of grit and grace, strength and delicacy. Her stories are always true.
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I really don't think it would be wise to speculate in an abstract way about the circumstances in which it might be on the agenda.
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Conscience and reputation are two things. Conscience is due to yourself, reputation to your neighbour.
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Oh, I hate the cheap severity of abstract ethics!
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I get to live down my reputation for being cantankerous if I slowly evolve towards being a really good live show.
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Your mother told you all that I could give you was a reputation.
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[All phenomena] are equally susceptible of being calculated, and all that is necessary, to reduce the whole of nature to laws similar to those which Newton discovered with the aid of the calculus, is to have a sufficient number of observations and a mathematics that is complex enough.
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Once or twice I`ve been described as a light comedian. I consider this the most accurate description of my abilities I`ve ever seen.
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Humanity is fickle. They may dress for a morning coronation and never feel the need to change clothes for an execution in the afternoon. So Triumphal Sundays and Good Fridays always fit comfortably into the same April week.
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The result was magnificent . . . I became the father of two girls and two boys, lovely children by good fortune they all look like my wife.
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If we have a chance to upgrade, we're going to have to do it, ... This roster's going to have to be much stronger one through 25. Hopefully we have some credibility from our past, but our present isn't too attractive. I hope they still want to come to San Francisco and understand this is a one-year step back.
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Algebraic geometry seems to have acquired the reputation of being esoteric, exclusive, and very abstract, with adherents who are secretly plotting to take over all the rest of mathematics. In one respect this last point is accurate.
