“The function of logic in mathematics is critical rather than constructive.”
100 Years of Mathematics: a Personal Viewpoint (1981)
Oxford Book of English Verse, Introduction
“The function of logic in mathematics is critical rather than constructive.”
100 Years of Mathematics: a Personal Viewpoint (1981)
Address at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida (3 November 1966); published in Gerald R. Ford,Selected Speeches (1973) edited by Michael V. Doyle <!-- p. 114 -->
1960s
Context: Too often critics seem more intent on seeking new ways to alter Congress than to truly learn how it functions. They might well profit from the advice of Thomas Huxley, who said a century ago: "Sit down before facts as a little child, be prepared to give up every preconceived notion — or you shall learn nothing."
“It is better to be making the news than taking it; to be an actor rather than a critic.”
The Story of the Malakand Field Force: An Episode of Frontier War (1898), Chapter VIII.
Early career years (1898–1929)
Statement (September 1961), as quoted in Mr. Strangelove: A Biography of Peter Sellers (1999) by Ed Sikov, p. 168
Context: Criticism should be done by critics, and a critic should have some training and some love of the medium he is discussing. But these days, gossip-columnist training seems to be enough qualification. I suppose an ability to stand on your feet through interminable cocktail parties and swig interminable gins in between devouring masses of fried prawns may just possibly help you to understand and appreciate what a director is getting at, but for the life of me I can't see how.
In the House of Commons (18 April 1947), cited in The Oxford Dictionary of Political Quotations (1996), Jay, Oxford University Press, p. 93.
Post-war years (1945–1955)
“To silence criticism is to silence freedom.”
New York Times Magazine (30 September 1951)