Quotes on Mathematics

Many of these quotes come from my ever-growing collection of recreational math

books; others were found on my internet travels. I am always on the lookout for math
cartoons, jokes, pules, and quotations. !hese quotes have "een used to stimulate
student interest in math and can "e tied into the lesson for the day, a current event,
or a related su"ject of interest. Questions can "e posed a"out the quotes, and short
"iographical essays a"out the authors can "e made as assignments in the history of
math. I like these quotes also "ecause they remind me of great thoughts and keep my
teaching interest keen.
#nother source of quotations can "e found at my companion we"site, Teacher to
Teacher Press. $or those wanting larger online sources of math quotes, see the
Furman University Mathematics Quotation Server or the Mathematical and
Educational Quotation Server at Westfield State ollege. # good source of
quotations in "ook form can "e found in Out of the Mouths of Mathematicians: A
Quotation Book for Philomaths, by Rosemary Schmalz.
!he quotations "elow are listed alphabetically by author. If you have a favorite
quote, please email me the quote and the source. I appreciate sharing great ideas;
they%re a way to stimulate the thinking and feel great a"out mathematics and life.
&ordially,
Mr. '
((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((
The arithmetic of life does not always have a logical answer.
- Inshirah Abdur-Rauf
Mathematical knowledge adds vigour to the mind, frees it from prejudice, credulity, and
superstition.
- John Arbuthnot
edagogy, like language itself, can either liberate or imprison ideas, inspire of suffocate
constructive thinking.
- Hyman Bass, from Mathematicians as Educators
Mathematics is one of the deepest and most powerful e!pressions of pure human reason, and, at
the same time, the most fundamental resource for description and analysis of the e!periential
world.
- Hyman Bass
To see the world in a grain of sand,
"nd a heaven in a wild flower#
$old infinity in the palm of your hand,
"nd eternity in an hour.
- William Blake
Somebody came up to me after a talk % had given, and say, &'ou make mathematics seem like
fun.( % was inspired to reply, &%f it isn)t fun, why do it*(
- Ralph P. Boas
% have discovered such wonderful things that % was amazed+ ,ut of nothing % have created a
strange new universe.
- Janos Bolyai, speaking about his discovery of non-.uclidean /eometry
I advise my students to listen carefully the moment they decide to take no more
mathematics courses. !hey might "e a"le to hear the sound of closing doors.
! "ames aballero
0hat distinguishes a mathematical model from, say, a poem, a song, a portrait or any other kind
of &model,( is that the mathematical model is an image or picture of reality painted with logical
symbols instead of with words, sounds or watercolors.
- John Casti, from Reality Rules: 1.
Statistics are no substitute for judgment.
- Henry Clay
The title which % most covet is that of teacher. The writing of a research paper and the teaching of
freshman calculus, and everything in between, falls under this rubric. $appy is the person who
comes to understand something and then gets to e!plain it.
- Marshall Cohen
)ne of the endlessly alluring aspects of mathematics is that its thorniest parado*es have
a way of "looming into "eautiful theories.
! Philip "# $avis
Though the structures and patterns of mathematics reflect the structure of, and resonate in, the
human mind every bit as much as do the structures and patterns of music, human beings have
developed no mathematical e1uivalent to a pair of ears. Mathematics can only be &seen( with the
&eyes of the mind(. %t is as if we had no sense of hearing, so that only someone able to sight-read
music would be able to appreciate its patterns and harmonies.
- eith !e"lin, from Mathematics: the Science of Patterns.
%ndeed, nowadays no electrical engineer could get along without comple! numbers, and neither
could anyone working in aerodynamics or fluid dynamics.
- eith !e"lin, from Mathematics: The New Golden !e.
0e only think when confronted with a problem.
- John !e#ey, "uoted in #ar$er%s &uotes.
The life of a mathematician is dominated by an insatiable curiosity, a desire bordering on passion
to solve the problems he is studying.
- Jean !ieudonne, from Mathematics ' The Music of Reason.
/eometry is the foundation of all painting.
- Albre$ht !urer
#lthough he may not always recognie his "ondage, modern man lives under a tyranny
of num"ers.
! %icholas Eberstadt, The Tyranny of Numbers: Mismeasurement and Misrule
It%s not that I%m so smart, it%s just that I stay with pro"lems longer.
! &lbert Einstein
+ot everything that counts can "e counted. +ot everything that can "e counted counts.
! &lbert Einstein
/reat spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.
- Albert %instein
Teaching should be such that what is offered is perceived as a valuable gift rather than a hard
duty.
- Albert %instein
,ure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas.
! &lbert Einstein
ure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas.
- Albert %instein
)nly two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I%m not sure a"out
the former.
! &lbert Einstein
%t will be another million years, at least, before we understand the primes.
- Paul %rdos
2y keenly confronting the enigmas that surround us, and by considering and analyzing the
observations that % had made, % ended up in the domain of mathematics. "lthough % am absolutely
without training in the e!act sciences, % often seem to have more in common with
mathematicians than with my fellow-artists.
- M.C. %s$her
$or me it remains an open question whether -this work. pertains to the realm of
mathematics or to that of art.
' M## Escher
%t is impossible to overstate the imporance of problems in mathematics. %t is by means of
problems that mathematics develops and actually lifts itself by its own bootstraps+ .very new
discovery in mathematics, results from an attempt to solve some problem.
- Ho#ard %"es
There is a distinction between what may be called a $ro(lem and what may be considered an
e)ercise. The latter serves to drill a student in some techni1ue or procedure, and re1uires little if
any, original thought+ 3o e!ercise, then, can always be done with reasonbable dispatch and
with a miniumum of creative thinking. %n contrast to an e!ercise, a problem, if it is a good one
for its level, should re1uire though on the part of the student.
- Ho#ard %"es
The journey for an education starts with a childhood 1uestion.
- !a"id &. 'inn
# math student%s "est friend is /)/ 0the /ack )f the /ook1, "ut remem"er that /)/
doesn%t come to school on test days.
! "osh Folb
Mathematics compares the most diverse phenomena and discovers the secret analogies that unite
them.
- Joseph 'ourier
The profound study of nature is the most fertile source of mathematical discovery.
- Joseph 'ourier
The universe stands continually open to our gaze, but it cannot be understood unless one first
learns to comprehend the language and interpret the characters in which it is written. %t is written
in the language of mathematics, and its characters are triangles, circles, and other geometric
figures, without which it is humanly impossible to understand a single word of it# without these,
one is wandering about in a dark labyrinth.
- (alileo
-,arado*es of the infinite arise. only when we attempt, with our finite minds, to discuss
the infinite, assigning to it those properties which we give to the finite and limited.
! (alileo
%f present trends continue, our country may soon find itself far behind many other nations in both
science and technology4nations where, if you inform strangers that you are a mathematician,
they respond with admiration and not by telling you how much they hated math in school, and
how they sure could use you to balance their checkbooks.
- Martin (ardner
2iographical history, as taught in our public schools, is still largely a history of boneheads#
ridiculous kings and 1ueens, paranoid political leaders, compulsive voyagers, ignorant general 4
the flotsam and jetsam of historical currents. The men who radically altered history, the great
scientists and mathematicians, are seldom mentioned, if at all.
- Martin (ardner
"ll mathematicians share+ a sense of amazement over the infinite depth and the mysterious
beauty and usefulness of mathematics.
- Martin (ardner
The essence of mathematics is not to make simple things complicated but to make complicated
things simple.
- ). (udder
%t is the duty of all teachers, and of teachers of mathematics in particular, to e!pose their students
to problems much more than to facts.
- Paul Halmos
!he only way to learn mathematics is to do mathematics.
! Paul )almos
Mathematics is not a deductive science 2 that%s a clich3. 4hen you try to prove a
theorem, you don%t just list the hypotheses, and then start to reason. 4hat you do is trial
and error, e*perimentation, guesswork.5
! Paul )almos
In most sciences one generation tears down what another has "uilt and what one has
esta"lished another undoes. In mathematics alone each generations adds a new story to
the old structure.
! )ermann )ankel
The value of a problem is not so much coming up with the answer as in the ideas and attempted
ideas it forces on the would be solver.
- I. *. Herstein
)ne cannot escape the feeling that these mathematical formulas have an independent
e*istence and an intelligence of their own, that they are wiser than we are, wiser even
than their discoverers6
! )einrich )ert*
The discoveries of 3ewton have done more for .ngland and for the race, than has been done by
whole dynasties of 2ritish monarchs.
- +homas Hill
5ust as any sensitive human being can be brought to appreciate beauty in art, music or literature,
so that person can be educated to recognize the beauty in a piece of mathematics. The rarity of
that recognition is not due to the &fact( that most people are not mathematically gifted but to the
crassly utilitarian manner of teaching mathematics and of deciding syllabi and curricula, in
which tedious, routine calculations, learned as a skill, are emphasized at the e!pense of
genuinely mathematical ideas, and in which students spend almost all their time answering
someone else(s 1uestions rather than asking their own.
- Peter Hilton
3o wonder that 6hurchill described this effort 7the 2ritish codebreakers working at 2letchley
ark8 as &2ritian(s secret weapon,( a weapon far more effective than the buzz bombs and the
rockets that 0erner von 2raun designed for a /erman victory, a weapon absolutely decisive, in
the judgement of many, in winning the war for the "llies.
- Peter Hilton
!he hardest arithmetic to master is that which ena"les us to count our "lessings.
! Eric )offer, Reflections On The Human Condition
In a completely rational society, the "est of us would aspire to "e teachers and the rest of
us would have to settle for something less, "ecause passing civiliation along from one
generation to the ne*t ought to "e the highest honor and highest responsi"ility anyone
could have.
! +ee ,acocca
$all seven times, stand up eight.
! "apanese proverb
I%ve missed 7888 shots. !wenty-si* times the game-winning shot has "een trusted to
me, and I%ve missed. I%ve lost over 788 games. I%ve failed over and over and over again,
and that is why I%ve succeeded.
! Michael "ordan
!he infinite in mathematics is always unruly unless it is properly treated.
! Ed-ard .asner and "ames %e-man
+it is the greatest achievement of a teacher to enable his students to surpass him.
- John emeny
,ne)s intellectual and aesthetic life cannot be complete unless it includes an appreciation of the
power and the beauty of mathematics. Simply put, aesthetic and intellectual fulfillment re1uires
that you know about mathematics.
- Jerry P. in,, from The Art of Mathematics
The tantalizing and compelling pursuit of mathematical problems offers mental absorption, peace
of mind amid endless challenges, repose in activity, battle without conflict, refuge from the
goading urgency of contingent happenings, and the sort of beauty changeless mountains present
to senses tried by the present- day kaleidoscope of events.
- Morris line
Many who have never had the occasion to discover more about mathematics consider it a dry and
arid science. %n reality, however, it is a science which demands the greatest imagination.
- )ofia o"ale"skaia
There is no branch of mathematics, however abstract, which may not someday be applied to
phenomena of the real world.
- *i$olai &oba$he"sky
The teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil to learn is hammering on cold
iron.
- Hora$e Mann
0e encourage children to read for enjoyment, yet we never encourage them to &math( for
enjoyment. 0e teach kids that math is done fast, done only one way and if you don)t get the
answer right, there)s something wrong with you. 'ou would never teach reading this way.
- Ra$hel M$Anallen. from /Math0 *o Problem1
The best teacher is not the one who knows most, but the one who is most capable of reducing
knowledge to that simple compound of the obvious and wonderful +
- H.&. Men$ken
%t seems 1uite unrealistic to judge a curriculum by its general outline, or to judge a course by its
syllabus. 0e can &cover( very impressive material, if we are willing to turn the student into a
spectator. 2ut if you cast the student in a passive role, then saying that he has &studied( your
course may mean no more than saying of a cat that he has looked at a king. Mathematics is
something that one does.
! Ed-in E# Moise
&oncepts are the su"stance of mathematical knowledge.
! %ational ouncil of Teachers of Mathematics
9nless we want mathematics to continue to "e viewed as something distinct and
separate from the mainstream of culture and consisting of a "ag of clever tricks or skills,
we must change the way we relate to the general pu"lic and the way we teach
mathematics.
! )arald M# %ess/ "r#, in Mathematics: an integral part of our culture
&hildren need to do what :real5 mathematicians do 2 e*plore and invent for the rest of
their lives.
! Susan 0hanian, from !arbage "i##as "atch$or% &uilts and Math Magic
$or what is important when we give children a theorem to use is not that they should
memorie it. 4hat matters most is that "y growing up with a few very powerful
theorems one comes to appreciate how certain ideas can "e used as tools to think with
over a lifetime. )ne learns to enjoy and to respect the power of powerful ideas. )ne
learns that the most powerful idea of all is the idea of powerful ideas.
! Seymour Papert, from Mindstorms
/ees 6 "y virtue of a certain geometrical forethought 6 know that the he*agon is greater
than the square and the triangle, and will hold more honey for the same e*penditure of
material.
! Pappas
Mathematics is no more computation than typing is literature.
! "ohn &llen Paulos
!here are too many people who get degrees and think that they%re educated. In order to
"e a truly knowledgea"le person one has got to "e engaged in serious, systematic,
lifelong learning.
! 1en2amin Payton
I love mathematics6principally "ecause it is "eautiful; "ecause man has "reathed his
spirit of play into it, and "ecause it has given him his greatest game 2 the encompassing
of the infinite.
! 3o*so Peter
!o most outsiders, modern mathematics is unknown territory. Its "orders are protected
"y dense thickets of technical terms; its landscapes are a mass of indeciphera"le
equations and incomprehensi"le concepts. $ew realie that the world of modern
mathematics is rich with vivid images and provocative ideas.
! ,vars Peterson
Students must learn that mathematics is the most human of endeavors. 9lesh and blood
representatives of their own species engaged in a centuries long creative struggle to uncover and
to erect this magnificent edifice. "nd the struggle goes on today. ,n the very campuses where
mathematics is presented and received as an inhuman discipline, cold and dead, new
mathematics is created. "s sure as the tides.
- J. !. Philips, from Mathematics as an esthetic *isci$line
.very child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist after he:she; grows up.
- Pablo Pi$asso
Mathematics is the abstract key which turns the lock of the physical universe.
- John Polkin,horne
To teach effectively a teacher must develop a feeling for his subject# he cannot make his students
sense its vitality if he does not sense it himself. $e cannot share his enthusiasm when he has no
enthusiasm to share. $ow he makes his point may be as important as the point he makes# he must
personally feel it to be important.
- (eor,e Polya
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.
- Mar$el Proust
%ndeed, only a few are mathematically gifted in the sense that they are endowed with the talent to
discover new mathematical facts. 2ut by the same token, only a few are musically gifted in that
they are able to compose music. 3evertheless there are many who can understand and perhaps
reproduce music, or who at least enjoy it. 0e believe that the number of people who can
understand simple mathematical ideas is not relatively smaller than the number of those who are
commonly called musical, and that their interest will be stimulated if only we can eliminate the
aversion toward mathematics that so many have ac1uired from childhood e!periences.
- Hans Radema$her
The simplest schoolboy is now familiar with truths for which "rchimedes would have sacrificed
his life.
- %rnest Renan
%ntellectually, perspective 7drawing8 is a breakthrough, because here, for the first time, the
physical space we live in is being depicted as ifit were an abstract, mathematical space. " less
obvious innovation due to perspective is that here, for the first time, people are actually drawing
pictures of infinities.
- Rudy Ru$ker, from Mind Tools: The +i,e -e,els of Mathematical Reality
0e cannot hope that many children will learn mathematics unless we find a way to share our
enjoyment and show them its beauty as well as its utility.
- Mary Beth Ruskai
,hysics is mathematical not "ecause we know so much a"out the physical world, "ut
"ecause we know so little; it is only its mathematical properties that we can discover.
! 1ertrand 3ussell
#rithmetic is num"ers you squeee from your head to your hand to your pencil to your
paper till you get the answer.
! arl Sandburg/ :Arithmetic:
%n mathematics, if a pattern occurs, we can go on to ask, 0hy does it occur* 0hat does it
signify* "nd we can find answers to these 1uestions. %n fact, for every pattern that appears, a
mathematician feels he ought to know why it appears.
- W. W. )a#yer
Mathematics is a linguistic activity# its ultimate area is preciseness of communication.
- William &. )$haff
;o down deep enough into anything and you will find mathematics.
! $ean Schlicter
,ne can invent mathematics without knowing much of its history. ,ne can use mathematics
without knowing much, if any, of its history. 2ut one cannot have a mature appreciation of
mathematics without a substantial knowledge of its history.
- Abe )henit2er
/iving students a lot of worksheets to fill out is indicative of low e!pectations. %t suggests that
you don(t think they(re capable of deep thinking about mathematics.
- Mid,e )ie,fried
6alculus is the most powerful weapon of thought yet devised by the wit of man.
- W. B. )mith
The lock-step approach of algebra, geometry, and then more algebra :but rarely any statistics; is
still dominant in <. S. schools, but hardly anywhere else. This fragmented approach yields
effective mathematics education not for the many but for the few 4 primarily those who are
independently motivated and who will learn under any conditions.
- &ynn Arthur )teen, from *oes E,ery(ody Need to Study l!e(ra.
Mathematics, in the common lay view, is a static discipline based on formulas+2ut outside the
public view, mathematics continues to grow at a rapid rate+the guid to this growth is not
calculation and formulas, but an open ended search for pattern.
- &ynn Arthur )teen, from /n the Shoulders of Giants0 edited by =ynn ". Steen
0hat humans do with the language of mathematics is to describe patterns+ To grow
mathematically children must be e!posed to a rich variety of patterns appropriate to their own
lives through which they can see variety, regularity, and interconnections.
- &ynn Arthur )teen, from /n the Shoulder of Giants
I used to love mathematics for its own sake, and I still do, "ecause it allows for no
hypocrisy and no vagueness6.
! Stendhal 4)enri 1eyle5, The 'ife of Henri (rulard
,ne of the biggest problems of mathematics is to e!plain to everyone else what it is all about.
The technical trappings of the subject, its symbolism and formality, its baffling terminology, its
apparent delight in lengthy calculations> these tend to obscure its real nature. " musician would
be horrified if his art were to be summed up as &a lot of tadpoles drawn on a row of lines(# but
that(s all that the untrained eye can see in a page of sheet music+ %n the same way, the
symbolism of mathematics is merely its coded form, not its substance.
- Ian )te#art, from +rom #ere to 1nfinity
"s one reads mathematics, one needs to have an active mind, asking 1uestions, forming mental
connections between the current topic and other ideas from other conte!ts, so as to develop a
sense of the structure, not just familiarity with a particular tour through the structure.
- William P. +hurston, from Three2*imensional Geometry and To$olo!y.
There is a difference between not knowing and not knowing yet.
- )helia +obias
# man is like a fraction whose numerator is what he is and whose denominator is what
he thinks of himself. !he larger the denominator, the smaller the fraction.
! Tolstoy
,ure mathematics is the world%s "est game. It is more a"sor"ing than chess, more of a
gam"le than poker, and lasts longer than Monopoly. It%s free. It can "e played
anywhere 2 #rchimedes did it in a "athtu".
! 3ichard "# Trudeau, )ots and 'ines
Make your mistakes work for you "y learning from them.
! $onald Trump
$igures don%t lie, "ut liars figure.
! Mark T-ain
4e could use up two <ternities in learning all that is to "e learned a"out our own world
and the thousands of nations that have arisen and flourished and vanished from it.
Mathematics alone would occupy me eight million years.
! Mark T-ain
!he human mind has never invented a la"or-saving machine equal to alge"ra.
- 9nknown
In the "inary system we count on our fists instead of on our fingers.
- 9nknown
# circle is a round straight line with a hole in the middle.
- 9nknown
!here are =8 kinds of people in the world, those who understand "inary math, and those
who don%t.
- 9nknown
'ife is comple*> it has "oth real and imaginary components.
- 9nknown
?tatistics means never having to say you%re certain.
- 9nknown
# statistician can have his head in an oven and his feet in ice, and he will say that on the
average he feels fine.
- 9nknown
Infinity is a floorless room without walls or ceiling.
- 9nknown
7 out of @ #mericans make up ABC of the population.
- 9nknown
!rigonometry is a sine of the times.
- 9nknown
?tatistically speaking, in &hina, even if you are a one in a million kind of guy, there are a
thousand more just like you.
- 9nknown
+atural num"ers are "etter for your health.
- 9nknown
It is a mathematical fact that fifty percent of all doctors graduate in the "ottom half of
their class.
- 9nknown
Mathematics is much more than computation with pencil and a paper and getting answers to
routine e!ercises. %n fact, it can easily be argued that computation, such as doing long division, is
not mathematics at all. 6alculators can do the same thing and calculators can only calculate 4
they cannot do mathematics.
- John A. 3an de Walle
The calculus was the first achievement of modern mathematics and it is difficult to overestimate
its importance. % think it defines more une1uivocally than anything else the inception of modern
mathematics# and the system of mathematical analysis, which is its logical development, still
constitutes the greatest technical advance in e!act thinking.
- John "on *eumann
Symmetry, as wide or as narrow as you define is meaning, is one idea by which man through the
ages has tried to comprehend and create order, beauty and perfection.
- Hermann Weyl
2esides language and music, it 7mathematics8 is one of the primary manifestations of the free
creative power of the human mind, and it is the universal organ for world-understanding through
theoretical construction. Mathematics must therefore remain an essential element of the
knowledge and abilities which we have to teach, of the culture we have to transmit, to the ne!t
generation.
- Hermann Weyl
"lgebra is the intellectual instrument which has been created for rendering clear the 1uantitative
aspects of the world.
- Alfred *orth Whitehead
9rom the very beginning of his education, the child should e!perience the joy of discovery.
- Alfred *orth Whitehead
% put the relation of a fine teacher to a student just below the relation of a mother to her son and %
don)t think % could say more than this.
- +homas Wolfe
$ive out of four people have trou"le with fractions.
! Steven Wright
The e!citement of learning separates youth from old age. "s long as you)re learning you)re not
old.
- Rosalyn ). 4allo#
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