David Mumford Quotes
I think that mathematics can benefit by acknowledging that the creation of good models is just as important as proving deep theorems.

Quotes to Explore
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Circumstances are the rulers of the weak; they are but the instruments of the wise.
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I like to act with people that know what they're doing.
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Between Prince and my dad's fusion-jazz records, I didn't have a choice in being funky.
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We've got a very difficult situation created by this embrace of the so-called Arab Spring. And that's not getting better. It's getting worse. The carnage for the people of Syria is horrific, and it's quite frankly too little, too late to reverse a lot of that.
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I don't feel that no big stone should be put over my head, saying he did this, he did that. Unless there's something that I really did do. I believe I'm just ordinary. And I'd like for people to think of me that way, as just a guy that tried. Wanted to be loved by other people because he loved people.
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Give the peasants neither life nor death.
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I'm Irish. I think about death all the time.
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My mother always said don't marry for money, divorce for money.
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I don't think it's hypothetical whether or not it's a good idea to topple secular dictators in the Middle East and hope to get a good outcome and hope that stability comes thereafter.
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I doubt whether the Revolution has, in essentials, changed Russia at all. Reading Gogol, or Dostoevsky for that matter, one realizes how completely the Soviet regime has fallen back on to, and perhaps invigorated, the old Russia. Certainly there is much more of Gogol and Dostoievsky in the regime than there is of Marx.
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Policies that assume that human nature is a tabula rasa (clean slate) should be reviewed and revised to reflect that man has an in-built genetic code for survival with no evidence for innate morality.
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First and foremost, the duty of a representative is to represent the interests of his constituents.
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You hear about things happening to people - they slip in the bathtub, fall down the stairs, step off the curb in London because they think that the cars come the other way - and they die. You feel you want to die making an effort at something; you don't want to die in some unnecessary way.
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We procrastinated in the U.S., it's true. And we are changing that.
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I don't wake up in the morning and say, 'Jeez, I feel great today. I think I'll write a song.' I mean, anything is more interesting to me than writing a song. It's like, 'I think I'd like to write a song... No, I guess I better go feed the cat first.' You know what I mean? It's like pulling teeth. I don't enjoy it a bit.
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I've trained myself to find time to exercise relaxation of the body. I have these programs - I just listen to the instructions, and they're simple. Sometimes you just hold your hand tight and keep your breath - you hold it, hold it, feel all the tension, and then relax.
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The art of the three-minute song is more like journalism than writing a big 400-page book. You want to be brief, you want to make sense right yen and there. And sometimes that takes a bit of work.
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When I see my picture in the papers, I imagine that people think I'm a lot more serious than I am. They probably think I'm pretty miserable.
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I've always done things the hard way. I was born like a piece of tangled yarn. The job is trying to untangle it, and I'll probably go on doing it for the rest of my life.
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When I was 22, I had this horrible psoriasis outbreak. It was all over my legs, I couldn't walk because my legs were cracked and bleeding. Weird things like that can happen to your body.
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We should seek at all times to purify ourselves and to lead such worthy lives that the Light of Christ emanates from us in all that we say and do.
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How often have I been guilty of being the Holy Spirit in their lives? It is my job along with my husbands to impart truth but I can’t reveal truth only the Holy Spirit can. It is my job to point out sin and require obedience but I can’t bring conviction of sin – only the Holy Spirit can convict of sin. It is my job to share the gospel – but I can’t reveal the gospel to my children only the Holy Spirit can reveal the truth of the gospel.
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All fatherhood is very important because single mothers shouldn't have to raise sons or daughters; they need that help.
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I think that mathematics can benefit by acknowledging that the creation of good models is just as important as proving deep theorems.