Math quotes

Math

1.5K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.

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Math quotes (page 13 of 75)

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Tom Waits Singer-songwriter, Actor
Math

"Q: What’s hard for you? A: Mostly I straddle reality and the imagination. My reality needs imagination like a bulb needs a socket. My imagination needs reality like a blind man needs a cane. Math is hard. Reading a map. Following orders. Carpentry. Electronics. Plumbing. Remembering things correctly. Straight lines. Sheet rock. Finding a safety pin. Patience with others. Ordering in Chinese. Stereo instructions in German."

Reality Reading Math
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Rene Descartes Philosopher, Mathematician
Math

"If we possessed a thorough knowledge of all the parts of the seed of any animal (e.g. man), we could from that alone, be reasons entirely mathematical and certain, deduce the whole conformation and figure of each of its members, and, conversely if we knew several peculiarities of this conformation, we would from those deduce the nature of its seed."

Animal Nature Math
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Isaac Newton Mathematician, Physicist, Astronomer
Math

"The latest authors, like the most ancient, strove to subordinate the phenomena of nature to the laws of mathematics."

Law Math Ancient
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George Bernard Shaw Playwright, Critic
Math

"The mathematician is fascinated with the marvelous beauty of the forms he constructs, and in their beauty he finds everlasting truth."

Truth Beauty Math
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Gilbert K. Chesterton Writer, Journalist
Math

"Poets do not go mad; but chess-players do. Mathematicians go mad, and cashiers; but creative artists very seldom. I am not, as will be seen, in any sense attacking logic: I only say that this danger does lie in logic, not in imagination."

Lying Science Math
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Leonardo da Vinci Artist, Scientist, Inventor
Math

"Mechanics is the paradise of the mathematical sciences because by means of it one comes to the fruits of mathematics."

Mean Science Math
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Freeman Dyson Theoretical Physicist
Math

"For a physicist mathematics is not just a tool by means of which phenomena can be calculated, it is the main source of concepts and principles by means of which new theories can be created."

Mean Justice Math
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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Poet, Playwright, Novelist
Math

"Mathematics has the completely false reputation of yielding infallible conclusions. Its infallibility is nothing but identity. Two times two is not four, but it is just two times two, and that is what we call four for short. But four is nothing new at all. And thus it goes on and on in its conclusions, except that in the higher formulas the identity fades out of sight."

Two Sight Math
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Johnny Depp Actor, Producer
Math

"You can't plan the kind of deep love that results in children. Fatherhood was not a conscious decision. It was part of the wonderful ride I was on. All the math finally worked."

Children Destiny Math
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Jonathan Swift Satirist, Writer
Math

"If they would, for Example, praise the Beauty of a Woman, or any other Animal, they describe it by Rhombs, Circles, Parallelograms, Ellipses, and other geometrical terms."

Women Beauty Math
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Ludwig Wittgenstein Philosopher
Math

"Mathematics is a logical method. . . . Mathematical propositions express no thoughts. In life it is never a mathematical proposition which we need, but we use mathematical propositions only in order to infer from propositions which do not belong to mathematics to others which equally do not belong to mathematics."

Life Order Math
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Paul Ryan Politician
Math

"Before the math and the momentum overwhelm us all, we are going to solve this nation's economic problems. And I'm going to level with you: We don't have that much time. But if we are serious, and smart, and we lead, we can do this."

Smart Math Intelligence
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Peter Andre Singer, Television Personality
Math

"I was excellent at English and Drama. Maths and Science I was terrible at. I didn't have any interest in them. I was happiest at lunchtime, playing with my friends. But I love science now, that's the funny thing. And I'd be so good at geography, as I've been fortunate enough to travel the world."

Drama Math Funny Things
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