I wanted to properly cite the following awesome quote:



> 
> Every mathematician has a secret weapon. Mine is Morse theory. - Raoul Bott
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Now this has been attributed to Bott in precisely two places that I can find: the older of the two is Bestvina's work on PL Morse theory [here](http://www.math.utah.edu/~bestvina/eprints/minicourse.pdf) and the more recent occurrence is in the 14th slide of Kahle's talk available as a rather large pdf file [here](http://matthewkahle.org/sites/default/files/papers/ColoradoState.pdf).


Question:



> 
> What is the original reference for this quote?
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I've combed through the likely suspect, *Morse theory indomitable* available [here](http://archive.numdam.org/article/PMIHES_1988__68__99_0.pdf) but the quote does not appear to be in that paper



Raoul Bott's quote on Morse Theory cited by Bestvina and Kahle: where is it from?
Here is Mladen's response to my email asking this question:



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> I heard him say it in a colloquium talk in 2001 (I think).
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Case closed, unless Bob MacPherson has a different answer.


