Jorge Luis Borges

"The man who has learned that three plus one are four doesn't have to go through a proof of that assertion with coins, or dice, or chess pieces, or pencils. He knows it, and that's that. He cannot conceive a different sum. There are mathematicians who say that three plus one is a tautology for four, a different way of saying "four" ... If three plus one can be two, or fourteen, then reason is madness."

8 likes

Source: Jorge Luis Borges (2001). “The Book of Sand and Shakespeare's Memory”, Penguin Modern Classics

About the author

Jorge Luis Borges

Jorge Luis Borges

Writer, Poet

Jorge Luis Borges was an Argentine writer known for his intricate short stories and essays that explore themes of identity, infinity, and labyrinths.

All quotes by Jorge Luis Borges →

Same author

More quotes by Jorge Luis Borges

See all →
Jorge Luis Borges Writer, Poet

"I am not sure that I exist, actually. I am all the writers that I have read, all the people that I have met, all the women that I have loved; all the cities I have visited."

Read quote