On Extrema II (Extrema in Context)

“As in mathematics, when there is no maximum nor minimum, in short nothing distinguished, everything is done equally, or when that is not nothing at all is done: so it may be said likewise in respect of perfect wisdom, which is no less orderly than mathematics, that if there were not the best (optimum) among all possible worlds, God would not have produced any.” (Gottfried W Leibniz, “Theodicy: Essays on the Goodness of God and Freedom of Man and the Origin of Evil”, 1710)

“For since the fabric of the universe is most perfect and the work of a most wise Creator, nothing at all takes place in the universe in which some rule of maximum or minimum does not appear.” (Leonhard Euler, “De Curvis Elasticis”, 1744)

“Like a great poet, Nature produces the greatest results with the simplest means.” (Heinrich Heine)

“The triumph of a theory is to embrace the greatest number and the greatest variety of facts.” (Charles A Wurtz, “A History of Chemical Theory from the Age of Lavoisier to the Present Time”, 1869) 

“It is the constant aim of the mathematician to reduce all his expressions to their lowest terms, to retrench every superfluous word and phrase, and to condense the Maximum of meaning into the Minimum of language.” (James J Sylvester, 1877)

“In pure mathematics the maximum of detachment appears to be reached: the mind moves in an infinitely complicated pattern, which is absolutely free from temporal considerations. Yet this very freedom – the essential condition of the mathematician’s activity – perhaps gives him an unfair advantage. He can only be wrong – he cannot cheat.” (Kytton Strachey, “Portraits in Miniature”, 1931)

“[…] science, properly interpreted, is not dependent on any sort of metaphysics. It merely attempts to cover a maximum of facts by a minimum of laws.” (Herbert Feigl, “Naturalism and Humanism”, American Quarterly, Vol. 1, No. 2, 1949)

“The concept of the ‘singleness of the superlative’ is simple: no problem in dynamics can be properly formulated in terms of more than one superlative, whether the superlative in question is stated as a minimum or as a maximum (e.g., a minimum expenditure of work can also be stated as a maximum economy of work). If the problem has more than one superlative, the problem itself becomes completely meaningless and indeterminate.” (George Kingsley Zipf, “Human Behavior and the Principle of Least Effort: An Introduction of Human Ecology”, 1949)

“To a considerable degree science consists in originating the maximum amount of information with the minimum expenditure of energy. Beauty is the cleanness of line in such formulations along with symmetry, surprise, and congruence with other prevailing beliefs.” (Edward O Wilson, “Biophilia”, 1984)

“The main goal of physics is to describe a maximum of phenomena with a minimum of variables.” (CERN Courier)