"Most explicit information on the eigenfunctions of a Laplace operator on a compact manifold comes from computations where a high degree of symmetry is present. In these cases, eigenspaces may be of large dimension, the zeros of the eigenfunctions are often critical points, and the eigenfunctions usually have degenerate critical points. However, these properties are all unstable under small perturbations of the metric, and are therefore rather misleading to one's intuition."

"Contrary to what is usually thought, nationalism is a type of tribal-collectivism where individual identity is subjugated to a collective group identity, making it a perfect habitat for most species o…"

"Referring to a professor aboard ship: This passenger — the first and only one we had had, except to go from port to port on the coast — was no one else than a gentleman whom I had known in my smoother…"

"Given my present belief in the much greater range of variability as to both order and kind of complexity in the world's musics versus the world's languages, I can hardly imagine how a model developed …"

"The smaller the world, the better I feel. When the reed is around me, evil has disappeared from the world. I really shall paint the reed next year, I've seriously decided. A small area of reeds with s…"