Math Quotes from Platonic Realms


		Eric Temple Bell Profession: mathematician. Born 1883, Aberdeen, Scotland. Died 1960, Watsonville, California. Creative mathematicians now, as in the past, are inspired by the art of mathematics rather than by any prospect of ultimate usefulness. “Obvious” is the most dangerous word in mathematics. The longer mathematics lives the more abstract – and therefore, possibly also the more practical – it becomes. To appreciate the living spirit rather than the dry bones of mathematics, it is necessary to inspect the work of a master at first hand. Textbooks and treatises are an unavoidable evil... The very crudities of the first attack on a significant problem by a master are more illuminating than all the pretty elegance of the standard texts which has been won at the cost of perhaps centuries of finicky polishing. Bishop George Berkeley Profession: philosopher. Born 1685, Kilkenny, Ireland. Died 1753, Oxford, England. And what are these same evanescent increments? They are neither finite quantities, nor quantities infinitely small, nor yet nothing. May we not call them the ghosts of departed quantities? Certainly he who can digest a second or third fluxion need not, methinks, be squeamish about any point in divinity. Jakob Bernoulli Profession: mathematician. Born 1654, Basel, Switzerland. Died 1705, Basel, Switzerland. Even as the finite encloses an infinite series, And in the unlimited limits appear, So the soul of immensity dwells in minuta And in the narrowest limits, no limits inhere. What joy to discern the minute in infinity! The vast to perceive in the small, what Divinity! Niels Bohr Profession: physicist. Born 1885, Copenhagen, Denmark. Died 1962, Copenhagen, Denmark. An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes, which can be made, in a very narrow field. Prediction is difficult, especially of the future. Janos Bolyai Profession: mathematician. Born 1802, Cluj, Romania. Died 1860, Tirgu-Mures, Romania. [Of hyperbolic geometry:] I have discovered such wonderful things that I was amazed … out of nothing I have created a strange new universe. One must do no violence to nature, nor model it in conformity to any blindly formed chimaera. Pierre Leon Boutroux Profession: mathematician. Born 1880, Paris, France. Died 1922, France. Logic is invincible, because in order to combat logic it is necessary to use logic. Claude Bragdon Mathematics is the handwriting on the human consciousness of the very Spirit of Life itself. T. Briffault In Samoa, when elementary schools were first established, the natives developed an absolute craze for arithmetical calculations. They laid aside their weapons and were to be seen going about armed with slate and pencil, setting sums and problems to one another and to European visitors. The Honourable Frederick Walpole declares that his visit to the beautiful island was positively embittered by ceaseless multiplication and division. Luitzen Brouwer Profession: mathematician. Born 1881, Rotterdam, Netherlands. Died 1966, Blaricum, Netherlands. The construction itself is an art, its application to the world an evil parasite.		BROWSE BY AUTHOR BROWSE BY TOPIC SEARCH FOR QUOTES CONTAINING A PHRASE (5 to 50 characters): CLICK HERE FOR SEARCH TIPS

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