Hal Quotes in Proof
HAL: […] When your dad was younger than both of us, he made major contributions to three fields: game theory, algebraic geometry, and nonlinear operator theory. Most of us never get our heads around one. He basically invented the mathematical techniques for studying rational behavior, and he gave the astrophysicists plenty to work over too. Okay?
CATHERINE: Don’t lecture me.
HAL: […] “Talking with students helps. So does being outside, eating meals in restaurants, riding buses, all the activities of ‘normal’ life. Most of all Cathy. The years she has lost caring for me […] her refusal to let me be institutionalized—her keeping me at home, caring for me herself, has certainly saved my life. Made writing this possible. Made it possible to imagine doing math again […] I can never repay her.”
ROBERT: […] I’m not doing much right now. It does get harder. It’s a stereotype that happens to be true, unfortunately for me—unfortunately for you, for all of us.
CATHERINE: Maybe you’ll get lucky.
ROBERT: Maybe I will. Maybe you’ll pick up where I left off.
CATHERINE: Don’t hold your breath.
ROBERT: Don’t underestimate yourself.
HAL: I’ll tell them we’ve found something, something potentially major, we’re not sure about the authorship; I’ll sit done with them. We’ll go through the thing carefully […] and figure out exactly what we’ve got. It would only take a couple of days, probably, and then we’d have a lot more information. […]
CATHERINE: You can’t take it …] You don’t waste any time, do you? No hesitation. You can’t wait to show them your brilliant discovery.
HAL: I’m trying to determine what this is.
CATHERINE: I’m telling you what it is.
HAL: You don’t know!
CATHERINE: I wrote it.
HAL: I’m a mathematician […] I know how hard it would be to come up with something like this. I mean it’s impossible. You’d have to be…you’d have to be your dad, basically. Your dad at the peak of his powers.
CATHERINE: I’m a mathematician too.
HAL: Not like your dad.
CATHERINE: Oh, he’s the only one who could have done this?
HAL: The only one I know.
HAL: […] Your dad dated everything. Even his most incoherent entries he dated. There are no dates in this.
CATHERINE: The handwriting—
HAL: —looks like your dad’s. Parents and children sometimes have similar handwriting, especially if they’ve spent a lot of time together.
HAL: Come on, Catherine. I’m trying to correct things.
CATHERINE: You can’t. Do you hear me?
You think you’ve figured something out? You run over here so pleased with yourself because you changed your mind. Now you’re certain. You’re so…sloppy. You don’t know anything. The book, the math, the dates, the writing, all that stuff you decided with your buddies, it’s just evidence. It doesn’t finish the job. It doesn’t prove anything.
HAL: Okay, what would?
CATHERINE: Nothing.
You should have trusted me.
HAL: There is nothing wrong with you.
CATHERINE: I think I’m like my dad.
HAL: I think you are too.
CATHERINE: I’m…afraid I’m like my dad.
HAL: You’re not him.
CATHERINE: Maybe I will be.
HAL: Maybe. Maybe you’ll be better.
Hal Quotes in Proof
HAL: […] When your dad was younger than both of us, he made major contributions to three fields: game theory, algebraic geometry, and nonlinear operator theory. Most of us never get our heads around one. He basically invented the mathematical techniques for studying rational behavior, and he gave the astrophysicists plenty to work over too. Okay?
CATHERINE: Don’t lecture me.
HAL: […] “Talking with students helps. So does being outside, eating meals in restaurants, riding buses, all the activities of ‘normal’ life. Most of all Cathy. The years she has lost caring for me […] her refusal to let me be institutionalized—her keeping me at home, caring for me herself, has certainly saved my life. Made writing this possible. Made it possible to imagine doing math again […] I can never repay her.”
ROBERT: […] I’m not doing much right now. It does get harder. It’s a stereotype that happens to be true, unfortunately for me—unfortunately for you, for all of us.
CATHERINE: Maybe you’ll get lucky.
ROBERT: Maybe I will. Maybe you’ll pick up where I left off.
CATHERINE: Don’t hold your breath.
ROBERT: Don’t underestimate yourself.
HAL: I’ll tell them we’ve found something, something potentially major, we’re not sure about the authorship; I’ll sit done with them. We’ll go through the thing carefully […] and figure out exactly what we’ve got. It would only take a couple of days, probably, and then we’d have a lot more information. […]
CATHERINE: You can’t take it …] You don’t waste any time, do you? No hesitation. You can’t wait to show them your brilliant discovery.
HAL: I’m trying to determine what this is.
CATHERINE: I’m telling you what it is.
HAL: You don’t know!
CATHERINE: I wrote it.
HAL: I’m a mathematician […] I know how hard it would be to come up with something like this. I mean it’s impossible. You’d have to be…you’d have to be your dad, basically. Your dad at the peak of his powers.
CATHERINE: I’m a mathematician too.
HAL: Not like your dad.
CATHERINE: Oh, he’s the only one who could have done this?
HAL: The only one I know.
HAL: […] Your dad dated everything. Even his most incoherent entries he dated. There are no dates in this.
CATHERINE: The handwriting—
HAL: —looks like your dad’s. Parents and children sometimes have similar handwriting, especially if they’ve spent a lot of time together.
HAL: Come on, Catherine. I’m trying to correct things.
CATHERINE: You can’t. Do you hear me?
You think you’ve figured something out? You run over here so pleased with yourself because you changed your mind. Now you’re certain. You’re so…sloppy. You don’t know anything. The book, the math, the dates, the writing, all that stuff you decided with your buddies, it’s just evidence. It doesn’t finish the job. It doesn’t prove anything.
HAL: Okay, what would?
CATHERINE: Nothing.
You should have trusted me.
HAL: There is nothing wrong with you.
CATHERINE: I think I’m like my dad.
HAL: I think you are too.
CATHERINE: I’m…afraid I’m like my dad.
HAL: You’re not him.
CATHERINE: Maybe I will be.
HAL: Maybe. Maybe you’ll be better.
