David Mumford Inspirational Quotes (7)

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

The world is continuous, but the mind is discrete.

My own view is that no major advance was ever found as a result of a committee's recommendation... We should be honest in telling these agencies we often don't know where some ideas are going to lead, but we hope they are going to clarify a problem.

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.

Logic has virtually nothing to do with the way we think.

I am accustomed, as a professional mathematician, to living in a sort of vacuum, surrounded by people who declare with an odd sort of pride that they are mathematically illiterate.

The extreme possibilities are the most illuminating.