Isaac Newton & Christopher Hitchens - Marcus du Sautoy TV - The Catherine Tate Show TV - Agnes de Mille - Walt Whitman - Small Time Crooks 2000 -
No great discovery was ever made without a bold guess. Isaac Newton
The bullet had gone right through. It had missed his [George Orwell] larynx, it had missed his carotid artery, it had missed his spinal chord, and it only grazed his vocal chords. And all of them said the same thing. Can you guess what it was? That was lucky. And he said, If I was lucky, I wouldn’t have got shot in the throat at all. Christopher Hitchens, lecture Commonwealth Club 1981, ‘Why Orwell Matters’
The average guess to the nearest bean is 4,515 [4,510] ... Collectively we get something which is just 0.1% away from the real number of beans in there. So as individuals the guesses are just that – guesses, but when you take them collectively they become something else entirely. Professor Marcus du Sautoy, The Code III: Prediction, BBC 2011
Guess how much I paid for all that? How much did I pay for all that? Just have a guess. It doesn’t matter, just have a guess. En-suite bathroom. Take a wild guess. Camel rides. Have a guess! Have a guess! It doesn’t matter. It won’t kill you. Have a guess! Say a number. Eighty pounds? Eighty pounds? I’m going to Egypt not phoning it ... Shove it up your arse! The Catherine Tate Show series I, bully-woman to office colleague, BBC 2004
Guess how long it took me? How long did it take me to get to Cornwall? The Catherine Tate Show s1e6
Guess how far I ran last night? How far did I run last night? I don’t think so. Have a guess. Think like an athlete. Just guess ... We’re just having a laugh – guess ... Eight hundred metres. ibid.
Guess what I’m thinking? Yeah. Freak. ibid.
I did my salsa class last night. I just can’t get the music out of my head. I never thought of myself as a dancer. But it turns out I’m rather good, Donny says. Donny my instructor ... Guess how old he thought I was. How old did Donny think I looked? Why not, have a guess ... Sixteen? Sixteen? He’s not blind. The Catherine Tate Show s2e2, office bully to woman
Guess where he [hairdresser] comes from? Go on, have a guess where my hairdresser is from? You’ll never guess. Because it’s fun! Have a guess ... You love it! Just guess. The Catherine Tate Show
Is that cake? I thought that was cake. Is everyone having cake? ... I’m not having any cake. I’m cutting down ... Guess how much weight I’ve lost? … The Catherine Tate Show, women in office
How many extras do you think there are in Ben Hur … Come on, how many bloody extras? ... A quarter of a million? In one film? Half a million sandals ... Eight thousand. Yes it is. Oh get a life! ibid.
The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark. Agnes de Mille
I like the scientific spirit – the holding off, the being sure but not too sure, the willingness to surrender ideas when the evidence is against them: this is ultimately fine – it always keeps the way beyond open – always gives life, thought, affection, the whole man, a chance to try over again after a mistake – after a wrong guess. Walt Whitman
Ray: I need our six thousand bucks … I’ve got a brilliant idea. I’m gonna make us rich.
Frenchie: How you gonna make us rich? Rob a bank? Small Time Crooks 2000 starring Woody Allen & Tracey Ullman & Elaine May & Elaine Stritch & Hugh Grant & Michael Rapaport & Tony Darrow & Jon Lovitz & Brian Markinson & George Grizzard & Kristine Nielson et al, director Woody Allen