Top 10
In reverse order:
10. "Upper
bounds, they are above me."
9.
"All the set theory we've done is completely useless."
8.
"You must do all your maths work and thinking whilst
in the bath tub."
7."It's
called curried because it's a bit spicy."
6.
"Once I tried to seduce a girl in a maths lecture
but I wasn't successful."
5.
"What is a proof? I do not know what is a proof!"
4.
"An old bloke. Very old. Because he's already dead."
3.
"I'm going to tell you a story that's quite interesting.... there's a lot
of dead people involved."
2. "Often
you have to know what people are talking about to know what they mean."
1.
"What is the lowest random number? Seven.... It's a joke, no?"
Categorized Quotes
Contains the ones that
didn't quite make the top 10:
Sets
-
"What is x?"
-
"x - a nice name for a set?"
-
"Why is y? A ha ha ha."
-
"More exciting sets."
-
"Power sets are funny."
-
"If you do not have enough
power in your sets you need power sets."
-
"This
is a completely hunky-dory set."
Wha-?
-
"I
feed something into the children and nothing comes out."
-
"It's
just a machine. You put someone in and out the other side comes the mother.
In nature it's the other way around."
-
"Hello.
Hello. Hello. Hello."
-
"It's
a magic trick."
-
"If you want to pronounce
his name in a funny way then I don't mind."
-
"If the sun shines yet we
still do not go to the zoo, then my children will be crying, yah?"
-
"You
write on your paper."
-
"It's
always the same dolly, you can do it forever, yah?"
-
"...
but that is trivial becuase 'less than equal' looks very boring."
-
"Here's a nice square universe."
-
"That's why you're at university.
To learn about the universe."
-
"You
have to fix the universe."
-
"I
should have a barber, I almost cut myself."
-
"Has
anybody got a mirror?"
Confusion
-
"Do you really understand
what I write there?"
-
"Did
I say upper? I mean lower."
-
"Up
and down, left and right - I'm not very good."
-
"Not
a football field, just a field"
-
"Points
on a plane. Not an aeroplane. A plane like an infinitely big piece of paper."
-
"Huh?
Huh? What's going on here?"
-
"That's
not what I wanted to do!"
-
"Now
I have confused myself!"
Hands up...
-
"Who thinks she is right?...
Who thinks she is wrong?... Who thinks nothing?..."
-
"It is not cool to put your
hands up, yah?"
-
"Maybe
you like to put both hands up, yah?"
-
"Hands up, who does not want
to raise his arm?"
-
"Nobody
will sit here anymore. You will all sit in the last row."
-
"Who
thinks it's not funny?"
-
"Nobody
thinks anything here!"
-
"Sometimes
nobody answers because it is just too stupid."
Genius
-
"If
you don't understand this now you might understand it next year, so don't
worry."
-
"If
enlightenment doesn't come immediately you need practice. It's like Buddhism."
-
"If
there are 3 people and they each give me one third of a cake, how many
cakes do I have?"
-
"What's
three times two? Ummm..... Ummm..... six!"
-
"Where
do I get this idea? It doesn't just fall from the sky you know!"
-
"My
answer sheet is mostly right."
-
"I
only want to demonstrate that I am not perfect either."
-
"I
have to apologise that I am not perfect."
-
"I
did something bad."
-
"I
get 3 points because I got 3 right and 2 wrong. That's over 50%!"
-
"I
was never very good at arithmetic so I get no points!"
-
"For
every point you get right you get one point.... that's how I calculate
it."
-
"If
you find an error on the slide then there are 2 possibilities. Either you
are too stupid to realise what's going on, or I have made a mistake."
-
"Everybody
drinks in an empty pub."
-
"It's
a good way to earn money - with logic."
-
"Sometimes
common sense doesn't work."
-
"If
you still don't believe me, you can bet ten pounds."
-
"I
obviously messed up this trivial example... Try doing it yourself!"
-
"Think
about it in the bath tub."
Pens
-
"It's
a green pen, ooo!"
-
"Can
anybody read the blue pen, actually?"
-
"The
green pen - ugh, I used the green pen."
-
"This black pen may be readable
but it makes a horrible noise."
Lettuces?
-
"I
think I'm going to talk about lettuces.... no, lattices.... how do you
spell that?"
-
"Do
you use the word lettuce in everyday life or is it a funny word?"
-
student:
"It's lattice" Thorsten: "With an 'a' - not with a
'u'?"
-
"Lettuce,
lattice, I dunno."
-
"It's
not a lattice. It looks more like a collar."
Mobiles
-
[mobile
phone beeps] Thorsten: "Beep!"
-
[mobile
phone rings] Thorsten: "Hello?"
-
[mobile
phone rings] Thorsten: "Your phone is ringing."
Falling Asleep
-
"You
are falling asleep?"
-
"A
party in your corridor? It's a shame - life can be tough."
-
"You've
all been to a party?"
That's Funny
-
"Here's
a funny function."
-
"Infinite
sets are getting a bit funny."
-
"This
operation is a funny one."
-
"I
use some funny piece of syntax."
Miscellaneous
-
"Shorter
is a good word, yah?"
-
"I am there lonely in my
office. Nobody comes to see me."
-
"I
try to put a bit of German in everything."
-
[to
student] "Who's your tutor?...... Hmmm, a Chinese
name...... What's the surname again?...... Hmmm...... ......
Ok...... Let's assume I'm your tutor."
-
"In
English 'rest' means to sleep ... In German, 'rest' means what's left over."
-
"Today
we're going to talk about pubs."
-
"We will not talk about the
football, yah?" [after Germany's 1-0 victory over England]
-
"People
may be of different opinions whether I am funny or not." [Thorsten
is still modest about his comic genius]
Submitted Quotes
Contains the quotes submitted
by other students:
-
"What
is false? False is anything that is not True." [from
Martin Burrow - meb00u]
-
"If
you are colour-blind you will find this difficult." [from Martin
Burrow - meb00u]
Where To Find Out More About
Thorsten
Thorsten's old Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität
München website:
(Contains pictures of his family
and pictures that his daughter drew of him)
www.tcs.informatik.uni-muenchen.de/~alti/
Thorsten's new Nottingham
University website:
www.cs.nott.ac.uk/~txa/
The Thorsten Appreciation
Society (ThorstSoc)
Quotes from current members:
-
"It's all about Thorsten
really." (Peter O'Shaughnessy)
-
"He's such a comedian." (George
Cole)
-
"He's just so cool." (Peter
O'Shaughnessy)
-
"I want that fleece." (Sirisha
Gollapudi)
Thorsten Guestbook
Sign or read the Thorsten
GUESTBOOK!
Also, please tell us if
you have any Thorsten quotes, look-a-like pictures or Thorsten-style clothing.
The Thorsten Team
Peter O'Shaughnessy |
pjo00u |
Website Designer &
Quote Collector |
George Cole |
grc00u |
Quote Collector |
Guy Coleman |
gtc00u |
Quote Collector |
Sam Wessel |
sfw00u |
Thorsten Impressionist |
Sirisha Gollapudi |
vlg00u |
Creative Consultant -
so don't mess! |
Sean Trainor |
sdt00u |
Sweeps up and makes the
tea |
Stuart Reeves |
str00u |
Thorsten Locator |
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