"The time to stop talking is when the other person nods his head affirmatively but says nothing." - Henry S. Haskins

***

Quotes:

The greatest Indians are the ones who don't talk... So that when they speak, it's words of wisdom.

[Student: Critical Theory is a Marxist notion.] That's because other people have better things to do.

[Student: You've been watching all the forums.] I'm such a lurker. [Another student: Stalker.] Psycho-stalker.

It's perpetual catching up. Just as the Nation will never be complete... By drawing attention to the one or two who succeed, you make it obvious the rest haven't.

[Student: God helps those who help themselves. All texts are contradictory.] Look at the birds and the bees. They don't work, why should we?

Everyone talks about Asian Values. Lee Kuan Yew, Tommy Koh, Kishore Mahbubani. Then 1997 comes along. Asian Financial Crisis. Cronyism, Nepotism, Corruption. I thought we're not supposed to have financial crises. Nobody talks about Asian Values anymore.

[On hegemony and truth] Partly it's manipulation... [but] the PAP is not out to screw us all.

Multiracialism, meritocracy, pragmatism. They've meant very different things to people over the years... We're all involved. It's a different way of thinking about 'active citizenry'.

[On youth apathy] When we come forward, you smack us down. Then now you want us to dance to your tune.

Neo-Gramscians talk about rearticulaton. Philosophy is nonsense... You take things from here and there...

I feel so horrible, because one of the things everyone said in the feedback was that you all want a break.

[Student: Ukraine sells a lot of weapons to Burma, but they always deny it.] 'They'? Somewhere else, closer to home...

[On distractions] It's just removing a chair from a window. It's more interesting than what I am saying. Wow, there's no competition.

Why was Singapore Rebel banned?... It presented Chee Soon Juan as a reasonable man... We know he's a horrible man. He's this man who just screams at the Prime Minister.

[Student: Shall I draw the graph?] Of course, of course. They ask you to solve graphically. You need the graph... That's all? [Student: I have to explain?]... Show the dynamic adjustment. [Student: This graph ah?] Sit down, sit down.

Wrong... Wrong... It's not a lottery, okay, you have to think about it systematically.

[Student on 'supermen': Girls, is it?] Yeah. Guys have more sense than that.

[On the exam] Ok. Time's up. Don't make me work too hard.

[Student on Critical Theory: Cognitive.] It's a Science in that way. It's not like some fluffy thing.

[On repression and enlightenment in Critical Theory] As a minority you're being repressed. You don't want to face it. On racial harmony day you join hands, wear cultural costumes and dance around on stage.

[Student: Did they say you should teach Critical Theory in the schools?] The Frankfurt School was composed of academics, so their world was, if you like, an ivory tower... They were accused of being elitist... The man on the street didn't understand [Critical Theory]

What does autonomy mean? Setting up for a very ironic moment.

[Student on the Great Refusal: Is doodling considered art?] You doodle doodle doodle. Suddenly: 'My mother!' You go back and have a chat with her... You sit in class, it's damn boring... Your only means of escape is to doodle. You're resisting over-rationalisation of your life through irrationality.

The artist may secretly yearn to be banned or censored, because the artist becomes a martyr. People love banned authors.

If you ban slash, all the teenage girls will kill you. [Student: That'd be nice.]

[Me: My theory is they wear leggings so they don't get upskirted.] They don't think so practically.

[On giving back the exam] Usually it takes time. 1 month, usually.

We will do it quite fastly. (quickly)

Very difficult concept. The more I think about Nash [Equilibrium], the less I actually understand it.

I'm a girl. I'm irrational. Girls are irrational. It is our duty to be irrational to perplex guys.

[On the Cobb-Douglas function] You are students. You are young, your memory is good. You can remember this. I cannot remember this.

Why do we need convex set? It's nice... It's not look nice, it behaves nice. (Not because it looks nice, but because)

Let's say me and *** [another Professor's name], we're perfect substitutes.

Why is it called 'constant elasticity of substitution'? Because it has constant elasticity of substitution.

I have come to hypothesise that when pissed, all girls will go: 'Whatever, whatever, whatever'. I base this upon 4 girls.

[On someone looking through my wallet] Look at what girls check out first. Your credit card.

Singaporean girls have nothing to show, so it doesn't matter if they go around topless. [Me: Like you lah. I'm larger than you.]... I have nice nipples... I want to keep my nipples to myself.

Whatever I type into the search engine, I find your blog.