Quotes by Mathematicians

I tried reading Hilbert. Only his papers published in mathematical periodicals were available at the time. Anybody who has tried those knows they are very hard reading. Alonzo Church
Time Reading Those Papers Tried Only Knows Were His Mathematical Very Anybody Available Hard Who Published
Well it was not exactly a dissertation in logic, at least not the kind of logic you would find in Whitehead and Russell's Principia Mathematica for instance. It looked more like mathematics; no formalized language was used. Alonzo Church
Mathematics You Language Dissertation Kind Would Find Logic Exactly Russell More Instance Like Looked Well Least Used
First rate mathematicians choose first rate people, but second rate mathematicians choose third rate people. Andre Weil
People First Second-Rate Rate First-Rate Mathematicians Choose Second Third
What is crucial is there be laws. Andre Weil
Laws Crucial
However impenetrable it seems, if you don't try it, then you can never do it. Andrew Wiles
You Try Seems Never However Then
Pure mathematicians just love to try unsolved problems - they love a challenge. Andrew Wiles
Love Try Problems Challenge Pure Mathematicians Just
It's fine to work on any problem, so long as it generates interesting mathematics along the way - even if you don't solve it at the end of the day. Andrew Wiles
Work Mathematics Day You Problem End Of The Day Long Way Solve Fine Along End Any Interesting Even
We've lost something that's been with us for so long, and something that drew a lot of us into mathematics. But perhaps that's always the way with math problems, and we just have to find new ones to capture our attention. Andrew Wiles
Mathematics Problems Long Lost Our Way Find Drew Something Attention New Perhaps Always Been Math New Ones Lot Just Us Capture
I don't believe Fermat had a proof. I think he fooled himself into thinking he had a proof. Andrew Wiles
Believe Think Thinking Proof Fooled Had He Himself
Always try the problem that matters most to you. Andrew Wiles
You Problem Try Matters Most Always
I loved doing problems in school. I'd take them home and make up new ones of my own. But the best problem I ever found, I found in my local public library. I was just browsing through the section of math books and I found this one book, which was all about one particular problem - Fermat's Last Theorem. Andrew Wiles
Best Home Library Book Problem School Problems Own Local Books One Book Section About My Own Through Take New Particular Particular Problem Make Make Up Doing Math New Ones Up Just Loved Which Public Them Public Library Theorem Found Ever Last
Well, some mathematics problems look simple, and you try them for a year or so, and then you try them for a hundred years, and it turns out that they're extremely hard to solve. Andrew Wiles
Mathematics You Simple Try Problems Year Hundred Hundred Years Extremely Out Solve Some Look Well Years Them Then Turns Hard
That particular odyssey is now over. My mind is now at rest. Andrew Wiles
Mind Rest Over Particular Odyssey Now
I grew up in Cambridge in England, and my love of mathematics dates from those early childhood days. Andrew Wiles
Love Mathematics Those Dates Days Cambridge Up Childhood Grew England Early Early Childhood
Mathematicians aren't satisfied because they know there are no solutions up to four million or four billion, they really want to know that there are no solutions up to infinity. Andrew Wiles
Satisfied Solutions Know Because Mathematicians Up Infinity Want Really Billion Million Four
I tried to fit it in with some previous broad conceptual understanding of some part of mathematics that would clarify the particular problem I was thinking about. Andrew Wiles
Mathematics Problem Understanding Thinking Broad Clarify Would Tried Some About Previous Part Particular Particular Problem Conceptual Fit
The only way I could relax was when I was with my children. Andrew Wiles
Relax Way Only Could Children
I'm sure that some of them will be very hard and I'll have a sense of achievement again, but nothing will mean the same to me - there's no other problem in mathematics that could hold me the way that this one did. Andrew Wiles
Mathematics Me Achievement Problem Will Sense Nothing Other Way Some Could Sure Very Did Same Hold Again Mean Them Hard
Some mathematics problems look simple, and you try them for a year or so, and then you try them for a hundred years, and it turns out that they're extremely hard to solve. There's no reason why these problems shouldn't be easy, and yet they turn out to be extremely intricate. Andrew Wiles
Mathematics You Simple Try Problems Year Hundred Hundred Years Extremely Intricate Out Easy Solve Some No Reason Look Years Them Turn Then Turns Hard Reason Why
As for everything else, so for a mathematical theory: beauty can be perceived but not explained. Arthur Cayley
Beauty Else Everything Everything Else Perceived Mathematical Explained Theory
Projective geometry is all geometry. Arthur Cayley
Geometry
So much the worse, it may be, for a particular meeting: but the meeting is the individual, which on evolution principles, must be sacrificed for the development of the race. Arthur Cayley
Meeting Worse Evolution Must Individual Sacrificed Development Particular Principles May Which Race Much
Not that the propositions of geometry are only approximately true, but that they remain absolutely true in regard to that Euclidean space which has been so long regarded as being the physical space of our experience. Arthur Cayley
Experience Space Long Our Approximately Has-Been Physical Only Remain Absolutely True Geometry Been Being Regard Regarded Which
A cloud is made of billows upon billows upon billows that look like clouds. As you come closer to a cloud you don't get something smooth, but irregularities at a smaller scale. Benoit Mandelbrot
You Clouds Made Cloud Scale Something Smaller Come Like Look Smooth Get Closer
I was in an industrial laboratory because academia found me unsuitable. Benoit Mandelbrot
Me Unsuitable Academia Industrial Because Laboratory Found
Order doesn't come by itself. Benoit Mandelbrot
Come Itself Order
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