Quotes about probability
page 27

Mark Hunt photo

“It was Pythagoras who discovered that the 5th and the octave of a note could be produced on the same string by stopping at 2⁄3 and ½ of its length respectively. Harmony therefore depends on a numerical proportion. It was this discovery, according to Hankel, which led Pythagoras to his philosophy of number. It is probable at least that the name harmonical proportion was due to it, since1:½ :: (1-½):(2⁄3-½).Iamblichus says that this proportion was called ύπ eναντία originally and that Archytas and Hippasus first called it harmonic.”

James Gow (scholar) (1854–1923) scholar

Nicomachus gives another reason for the name, viz. that a cube being of 3 equal dimensions, was the pattern &#940;&rho;&mu;&omicron;&nu;&#943;&alpha;: and having 12 edges, 8 corners, 6 faces, it gave its name to harmonic proportion, since:<center>12:6 :: 12-8:8-6</center>
Footnote, citing Vide Cantor, Vorles [Vorlesüngen über Geschichte der Mathematik ?] p 152. Nesselmann p. 214 n. Hankel. p. 105 sqq.
A Short History of Greek Mathematics (1884)

“And Margaret, uh, has done a lot of experimenting in her work. I think, probably, no artist has experimented the way Margaret has.”

Margaret Keane (1927) American artist

This statement was made before the public learned that Margaret, and not Walter, was the painter of the Big Eyed waifs.
Interviewed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WgStC6fvtM by Gary E. Park (circa 1964).
Walter Keane

Raghuram G. Rajan photo

“Mr Raghuram Rajan is an outstanding man who understands central banking. He is probably only one in the world among the crowds of professors at central banks that actually has a good grip on monetary policies and what you can or cannot achieve with them. He should get the Noble Prize in economics but the others are all money printers at heart, all of them.”

Raghuram G. Rajan (1963) Indian economist

Marc Faber, economist, as quoted in " Raghuram Rajan only central banker I trust, he should get Nobel in Economics: Marc Faber http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-08-12/news/65490521_1_marc-faber-rbi-governor-boom-doom-report", The Economic Times (12 August 2015)

Lloyd Kaufman photo
Joseph Strutt photo
Jeet Thayil photo
Mukesh Ambani photo
Gottlob Frege photo

“I hope I may claim in the present work to have made it probable that the laws of arithmetic are analytic judgments and consequently a priori.”

Arithmetic thus becomes simply a development of logic, and every proposition of arithmetic a law of logic, albeit a derivative one. To apply arithmetic in the physical sciences is to bring logic to bear on observed facts; calculation becomes deduction.
Gottlob Frege (1950 [1884]). The Foundations of Arithmetic. p. 99.

James K. Morrow photo

“In fact, there’s probably only one thing worse than not being able to understand a person.”

James K. Morrow (1947) (1947-) science fiction author

“What’s that?” asked Nimrod.
“Being able to understand him completely.”
"Bible Stories for Adults, No. 20: The Tower" p. 76 (originally published in Author’s Choice Monthly #8: Swatting at the Cosmos)
Short fiction, Bible Stories for Adults (1996)

Patrick Swift photo
Suzanne Collins photo
Johannes Grenzfurthner photo

“Oh, Tolkien, that miserable Catholic. He even hated refrigerators. A technophobic academic who probable would have fucked Ireland, if Ireland were fuckable.”

Johannes Grenzfurthner (1975) Austrian artist, writer, curator, and theatre and film director

via Boing Boing http://boingboing.net/2016/04/14/the-story-of-traceroute-about.html

Paul Scholes photo
Lewis F. Powell, Jr. photo

“I think I probably made a mistake in the Hardwick case… I do think it was inconsistent in a general way with Roe.”

Lewis F. Powell, Jr. (1907–1998) American judge

When I had the opportunity to reread the opinions a few months later, I thought the dissent had the better of the arguments.
At NYU Law School, (18 October 1990); after retirement from the Court, reflecting on his vote in Bowers v. Hardwick to uphold laws making homosexual sex a crime for which people could be imprisoned. Reported in Nat Hentoff, " Infamous Sodomy Law Struck Down http://www.villagevoice.com/news/9850,213790,2210,6.html", The Village Voice, 22 December 1998.
1990s

Idi Amin photo

“Amin is a splendid man by any standards and is held in great respect and affection by his British colleagues. … He is tough and fearless and in the judgment of everybody … completely reliable. Against this he is not very bright and will probably find difficulty in dealing with the administrative side of command.”

Idi Amin (1925–2003) third president of Uganda

OG Griffith, 1969 despatch on Amin's promotion to major, released by Public Record Office. Amin hailed as splendid, but not very bright, June 23, 2000, Richard Norton Taylor, The Guardian.

Albert Kesselring photo
Zinedine Zidane photo

“Zidane is probably the best player there has been in the past 20 years … France have recovered the best Zidane and they have progressively grown throughout this tournament.”

Zinedine Zidane (1972) French association football player and manager

Marcello Lippi, manager of the World Cup-winning Italian team, 3 July 2006

Allen Ginsberg photo
John Barrymore photo
Ken Livingstone photo
Roger Federer photo
Richard Feynman photo

“But, in admitting this, we have probably found the open channel.”

Richard Feynman (1918–1988) American theoretical physicist

The Value of Science (1955)

Julio Cortázar photo
Vincent Van Gogh photo

“If only we try to live sincerely, it will go well with us, even though we are certain to experience real sorrow, and great disappointments, and also will probably commit great faults and do wrong things, but it certainly is true, that it is better to be high-spirited, even though one makes more mistakes, than to be narrow-minded and all too prudent. It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love, is well done.”

Vincent Van Gogh (1853–1890) Dutch post-Impressionist painter (1853-1890)

Quote of Vincent's letter to Theo, from Amsterdam, 3 April 1878; a cited in The Letters of Vincent van Gogh to his Brother, 1872-1886 (1927) Constable & Co
As quoted in Wisdom for the Soul : Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing (2006) by Larry Chang, p. 483
1870s
Variant: Love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well.

Jane Austen photo
John Stuart Mill photo
Martin Luther King, Jr. photo

“It seems to be a fact of life that human beings cannot continue to do wrong without eventually reaching out for some thin rationalization to clothe the obvious wrong in the beautiful garments of righteousness. The philosopher-psychologist William James used to talk a great deal about the stream of consciousness. He says that the very interesting and unique thing about human nature is that man had the capacity temporarily to block the stream of consciousness and place anything in it that he wants to, and so we often end up justifying the rightness of the wrong. This is exactly what happened during the days of slavery. Even the Bible and religion were misused to crystallize the patterns of the status quo. And so it was argued from pulpits across the nation that the Negro was inferior by nature, because of Noah’s curse upon the children of Ham. The apostle Paul’s dictum became a watchword: Servants, be obedient to your master. And then one brother had probably studied the logic of the great philosopher Aristotle. You know Aristotle did a great deal to bring into being what we know as formal logic, and he talked about the syllogism, which had a major premise and a minor premise and a conclusion. And so this brother could put his argument in the framework of an Aristotelian syllogism. He could say, All men are made in the image of God. This was the major premise; then came the minor premise: God, as everybody knows, is not a Negro. Therefore, the Negro is not a man. This was the type of reasoning that prevailed.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

1960s, Address to Cornell College (1962)

Jan Assmann photo
David Frawley photo
Richard Dawkins photo
Richard Dawkins photo
Sophia Loren photo
Bernie Sanders photo
John Allen Paulos photo
Raymond Williams photo
James Thurber photo
John Allen Paulos photo
Jacinda Ardern photo
Tony Abbott photo

“I probably feel a bit threatened, as so many people do... look, it is a fact of life and I try to treat people as people, and not put them in pigeonholes.”

Tony Abbott (1957) Australian politician

Interview with Liz Hayes for 60 Minutes, when asked how he felt about homosexuality, quoted in Quoted in The Daily Telegraph https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/blogs/andrew-bolt/what-does-abbott-fear-they-might-do-to-him/news-story/ba3ffa814f3fe0be7b28e78cc536e2f7, 8 Mar, 2010.
Leader of the Opposition (2009-2015)

Tavleen Singh photo

“When I go to the Vishwanath Mandir in Benares and listen to the most powerful, magical aarti I hear from the priests that the knowledge of it will probably die because the temple is now controlled by secular bureaucrats.”

Tavleen Singh (1950) Indian journalist

Tavleen Singh, quoted in https://talageri.blogspot.com/2016/05/hindutva-or-hindu-nationalism.html [This article is a major extract from the article "Sita Ram Goel, memories and ideas" by S. Talageri, written for the Sita Ram Goel Commemoration Volume, entitled "India's Only Communalist", edited by Koenraad Elst, published in 2005.

John Prine photo
Immanuel Kant photo
Lois McMaster Bujold photo
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge photo

“My plans aren't quite solid. I'm hugely disorganized, you see, so once I sort it out you'll probably find out.”

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge (1982) a member of the British royal family

Associated Press interview during his gap year (29 September 2000)

Robert A. Heinlein photo

“Parents probably don’t know that they are playing favorites even when they are doing it.”

Source: Time for the Stars (1956), Chapter 5, “The Party of the Second Part” (p. 54)

“[I'm] (probably) the most significant historian of early medieval Europe under the age of 60 anywhere in the world... [T]hat's not (just) me being cocky, but a pretty sober assessment of the range and quality of my work.”

Guy Halsall (1964) English historian

Quoted in Lecturer “deeply regrets” offence caused by post, Blumsom, Amy, 4 December 2012, Nouse, January 27, 2020, https://web.archive.org/web/20121206054518/http://www.nouse.co.uk/2012/12/04/lecturer-deeply-regrets-offence-caused-by-post/, 6 December 2012 http://www.nouse.co.uk/2012/12/04/lecturer-deeply-regrets-offence-caused-by-post/,
Quotaes, VLE (2012)

Joanna Trollope photo

“I wanted to write a novel about the sandwich generation: parents falling to pieces at one end of your life and children being quite demanding at the other. You, the woman, are probably working full-time, but society, which is really very old-fashioned, still expects women to do all the caring.”

Joanna Trollope (1943) British writer

On her novel Mum & Dad in “Joanna Trollope on families, fiction and feminism: ‘Society still expects women to do all the caring’” https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/mar/02/joanna-trollope-on-families-fiction-and-feminism-society-still-expects-women-to-do-all-the-caring in The Guardian (2020 Mar 2)

John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton photo

“If it can be shown that the majority of women will probably be Liberal, or that they will divide equally, I should say that the balance is, very slightly, in favour of giving them votes.”

John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton (1834–1902) British politician and historian

Letter to William Ewart Gladstone (26 April 1891), quoted in J. N. Figgis and R. V. Laurence (eds.), Selections from the Correspondence of the First Lord Acton, Vol. I (1917), p. 235

Sina Mesdag-van Houten photo

“Without my husband I would never have become a painter, and without me he had probably not become a painter.”

Sina Mesdag-van Houten (1834–1909) Dutch painter

translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek

(original Dutch: citaat van Sientje Mesdag van Houten, in het Nederlands:) Zonder mijn man was ik nooit schilderes geworden, en zonder mij was hij waarschijnlijk geen schilder geworden.

Quote in the magazine 'Wereldkroniek', 21 April 1906; as cited on website Panorama Mesdag http://www.panorama-mesdag.nl/ontdek/mesdag/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5cO-hZzH3QIVDYmyCh0duwn1EAAYAiAAEgKqIPD_BwE

Hendrik Willem Mesdag photo

“And you know, if my wife haven't said some forty years ago: do it, let's go to Brussels to study painting, [with a. o. Willem Roelofs ], then I probably would never have left my business [in banking].”

Hendrik Willem Mesdag (1831–1915) painter from the Northern Netherlands

translation from original Dutch: Fons Heijnsbroek

(original Dutch: citaat van Hendrik Willem Mesdag, in het Nederlands:) En zie je, als mijn vrouw zo'n veertig jaar geleden niet gezegd had: doe 't maar, laten we maar gaan naar Brussel om te gaan studeren in schilderen, bij o.a. nl:Willem Roelofs, dan was 'k waarschijnlijk nooit uit mijn zaken getrokken.

Quote of Mesdag; as cited by nl:Marie Joseph Brusse, in his article 'Onder de menschen. Een gouden schilders-bruiloft', in Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant', 11 March, 1906
after 1880

Griff Rhys Jones photo

“My family wasn't troubled by much dysfunction. The most hotly contested issue was probably 'Who is going to have the most peas?'”

Griff Rhys Jones (1953) British actor and comedian

Consequently, I haven't got much time for angst. Anything that happens to you is your own responsibility.

Michael Odell, "This much I know: Griff Rhys Jones" http://arts.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1939605,00.html, The Guardian, November 5 2006.

Talking about dysfunction

Barry McCaffrey photo

“We tortured people unmercifully. We probably murdered dozens of them during the course of that, both the armed forces and the CIA.”

Barry McCaffrey (1942) United States Army general

Quoted in State-Sanctioned Torture in the Age of Trump https://truthout.org/articles/state-sanctioned-torture-in-the-age-of-trump/, by Marjorie Cohn, Truthout (23 January 2017)

Jackson Browne photo
Poul Anderson photo
Donald J. Trump photo

“I think there’s probably – possibly – drugs involved”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

Claimed, without evidence, about President Candidate Joe Biden, as quoted in * 2020-09-10
Trump uses Fox News interview to accuse Biden of taking drugs
Martin Pengelly
The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/12/trump-biden-drugs-fox-news-interview
2020s, 2020, September

Jorge Majfud photo
Zachary Laoutides photo

“We probably had a one percent chance and succeeding because most people who attempt to do this fail, but if you’re not afraid to fail let’s go for it.”

Zachary Laoutides (1986) film actor

ABC Eyewitness News Chicago 2016: Award-winning Latino filmmakers thrive in Aurora https://abc7chicago.com/entertainment/award-winning-latino-filmmakers-thrive-in-aurora/1464700/

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury photo
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury photo
Megan Whalen Turner photo
Georges C. Benjamin photo

“Syringes are probably less of a problem than vials and stoppers. If I was wanting to pay attention to what can go wrong (for COVID-19 vaccination), it'd be that.”

Georges C. Benjamin (1952) american public health official

Georges C. Benjamin (2020) cited in " This Is How We'll Vaccinate the World Against COVID-19 https://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/devices/this-is-how-well-vaccinate-the-world-against-covid19" on IEEE Spectrum, 15 December 2020.

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow photo
Jon Postel photo
Alicia Garza photo
Donald J. Trump photo

“In many cases, I probably identify more as Democrat. It just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans. Now, it shouldn't be that way. But if you go back, I mean it just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats. ...But certainly we had some very good economies under Democrats, as well as Republicans. But we've had some pretty bad disaster under the Republicans.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

Said in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzner, as quoted by * Trump in '04: 'I probably identify more as Democrat'
CNN
Chris Moody
https://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/21/politics/donald-trump-election-democrat/index.html
2000s, 2004

Elon Musk photo
William Gibson photo
William Gibson photo
Leo Tolstoy photo
J. Howard Moore photo
Ron English photo

“If questioning something endangers its existence, extinction is probably in its future.”

Ron English (1959) American artist

Ron English's Fauxlosophy (2016)

Joseph Chamberlain photo

“The goal towards which the advance will probably be made at an accelerated pace, is that in the direction of which the legislation of the last quarter of a century has been tending—the intervention, in other words, of the State on behalf of the weak against the strong, in the interests of labour against capital, of want and suffering against luxury and wealth.”

Joseph Chamberlain (1836–1914) British businessman, politician, and statesman

‘The Revolution of 1884’, The Fortnightly Review, No. CCXVII, New Series (1 January 1885), quoted in T. H. S. Escott (ed.), The Fortnightly Review, Vol. XXXVII, New Series (1 January – 1 June 1885), p. 9
1880s

Brent Weeks photo

“So he wasn’t dead. That was probably supposed to be a good thing.”

Source: The Way of Shadows (2008), Chapter 22 (p. 171)

Richard Dawkins photo

“Unfortunately, instead of working out that they have probably misunderstood evolution, creationists conclude, instead, that evolution must be false.”

Richard Dawkins (1941) English ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author

Heat the Hornet https://www.nairaland.com/233071/heat-hornet-why-evolution-true (a review of Jerry Coyne's book Why Evolution is True)

Michelle Obama photo

“Here is the secret: I have been at probably every powerful table that you can think of — I have worked at non-profits, I have been at foundations, I have worked in corporations, served on corporate boards, I have been at G-summits, I have sat in at the UN — they are not that smart.”

Michelle Obama (1964) lawyer, writer, wife of Barack Obama and former First Lady of the United States

Interview with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (3 December 2018) https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-46434147
2010s

Gregory of Nyssa photo

“People who look down from some high peak on a vast sea below, probably feel what my mind has felt, looking out from the sublime words of the Lord as from a mountain-top at the inexhaustible depth of their meaning.”

Gregory of Nyssa (335–395) bishop of Nyssa

Homilies on the Beautitudes VI: 1, tr. S. Hall, in H. R. Drobner and A. Viciano (edd.), Gregory of Nyssa: Homilies on the Beatitudes: An English Version and Supporting Studies (Brill, Leiden, 2000).

Donald J. Trump photo

“I read a lot. I comprehend extraordinarily well. Probably better than anybody you’ve interviewed in a long time,”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

As quoted by * Aaron Rupar
2020-08-03
“They are dying. That’s true. It is what it is.” Trump’s Axios interview was a disaster.
VOX
https://www.vox.com/2020/8/4/21354055/trump-axios-interview-jonathan-swan
2020, August 2020

Nathaniel Erskine-Smith photo

“The criminal code is not an effective instrument
an administrative system that is flexible and efficient
The blunt instrument of imprisoning someone, putting them through a rigorous criminal trial, is probably not the right answer for enforcing rules against hate speech online in every instance.”

Nathaniel Erskine-Smith (1984) Canadian politician and lawyer (born 1984)

16 May 2019 https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/as-canadian-mps-weigh-how-to-police-online-hate-one-proposes-new-body-to-give-tickets-or-warnings-to-offenders

Mary Elizabeth Winstead photo
Steve Dillon photo

“I drew a lot of scenes [in Preacher] of people vomiting. I'm probably the world's leading expert on drawing vomiting now.”

Steve Dillon (1962–2016) British comic artist

as quoted by Matt Adler, Comic Book Resources, "WWPhilly: Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon" https://www.cbr.com/wwphilly-garth-ennis-steve-dillon/ (22 June 2009)
Miscellaneous Quotes

Jennifer Tisdale photo

“I've danced my whole life and I really just enjoy dancing and performing, which is probably why I'm an actress. I love performing and getting a reaction from the crowd and giving people energy.”

Jennifer Tisdale (1981) American actress

Source: TEEN TALKS TO: Jennifer and Ashley Tisdale https://www.seventeen.com/celebrity/movies-tv/a11654/jennifer-tisdale-interview/ (January 1, 2008)

Chigozie Obioma photo

“There are some rhetorical moves that I wouldn’t be able to make if I didn’t know these languages. In terms of writing figurative language, I probably pull a lot from Yoruba imagery…”

Chigozie Obioma (1986) Nigerian writer

On his first novel The Fishermen in “'Why Jay?': Chigozie Obioma on the haunting death that inspired his novel” https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jan/18/chigozie-obioma-why-do-my-stories-end-this-way-honestly-i-want-to-write-a-feelgood-story- in The Guardian (2019 Jan 18)

Sergey Brin photo

“If what you’re doing is not seen by some people as science fiction, it’s probably not transformative enough.”

Sergey Brin (1973) President of Alphabet Inc.

Mayer, Catherine (August 5, 2013). Meet ‘Schmeat’: Say Hello to the Stem-Cell Hamburger http://science.time.com/2013/08/05/meet-schmeat-say-hello-to-the-stem-cell-hamburger/. Time Magazine. Retrieved 2019-08-30.

Opal Tometi photo

“What does one do when a madman suggests an appealing course of action? One worries—but probably goes along with it.”

Source: The Heritage Universe, Summertide (1990), Chapter 13, “Summertide Minus Ten” (p. 151)

Example (musician) photo

“A song in my head and it won't leave me alone,
I should have followed my friends,
by now they're probably at home
all warm and tucked up in bed
Instead I'm stumbling home on my own
with no charge on my phone
in the east end of London”

Example (musician) (1982) English rapper and singer

"Wrong in the Head" (song)
("Wrong in the Head" on YouTube (with lyrics)) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvZSPl7QYto
Studio albums, Playing in the Shadows (2011)

Mwanandeke Kindembo photo
Bo Burnham photo
Richard Wolf photo
Chulpan Khamatova photo

“I would probably say that music is one of the most expressive art forms for me. Of course, I don’t perform professionally, though it does play a huge role: it helps me think differently and want to go on living.”

Chulpan Khamatova (1975) Russian actress

As quoted in "An interview with Chulpan Khamatova" in Mariinsky Theatre (28 February 2012) https://www.mariinsky.ru/en/news1/interview1/interview_with_chulpan_khamatova/

Liu Wen (model) photo

“I was studying tourism at college and wanted to travel the world as a tour guide – that was my dream! But actually sometimes modeling feels quite similar, because I travel so much – probably even more than tour guiding.”

Liu Wen (model) (1988) Chinese model

Source: "Liu Wen Talks Style, Diversity And What It Means To Be China’s First Supermodel" in Marie Claire https://www.marieclaire.co.uk/news/fashion-news/liu-wen-interview-china-s-first-supermodel-talks-style-diversity-and-her-mango-campaign-15375 (3 March 2016)

Liu Wen (model) photo

“I don’t think I’m beautiful. People probably think I’m cute because I have dimples and am friendly and always smiling. But beauty is different.”

Liu Wen (model) (1988) Chinese model

Source: "China’s First Supermodel on Changing Standards of Beauty" in The Cut https://www.thecut.com/2016/02/liu-wen-asian-beauty.html (1 March 2016)