Clifford A Pickover - Collected Quotes

"I do not know if God is a mathematician, but mathematics is the loom upon which God weaves the fabric of the universe. [...] The fact that reality can be described or approximated by simple mathematical expressions suggests to me that nature has mathematics at its core." (Clifford A Pickover, "The Loom of God: Mathematical Tapestries at the Edge of Time", 1997) 

“In many ways, the mathematical quest to understand infinity parallels mystical attempts to understand God. Both religions and mathematics attempt to express the relationships between humans, the universe, and infinity. Both have arcane symbols and rituals, and impenetrable language. Both exercise the deep recesses of our mind and stimulate our imagination. Mathematicians, like priests, seek ‘ideal’, immutable, nonmaterial truths and then often try to apply theses truth in the real world.” (Clifford A Pickover, "The Loom of God: Mathematical Tapestries at the Edge of Time", 1997)

“Is God a mathematician? Certainly, the world, the universe, and nature can be reliably understood using mathematics. Nature is mathematics.” (Clifford A Pickover, “The Loom of God”, 1997)

”Throughout both ancient and modern history the feverish hunt for perfect numbers became a religion.” (Clifford A Pickover, "Wonders of Numbers: Adventures in Mathematics, Mind, and Meaning", 2001)

"Intellectual brilliance is no guarantee against being dead wrong." (Clifford A Pickover, "The Mathematics of Oz", 2002)

"In our modern era, God and mathematics are usually placed in totally separate arenas of human thought. But [...] this has not always been the case, and even today many mathematicians find the exploration of mathematics akin to a spiritual journey. The line between religion and mathematics becomes indistinct. In the past, the intertwining of religion and mathematics has produced useful results and spurred new areas of scientific thought. […] In many ways, the mathematical quest to understand infinity parallels mystical attempts to understand God. Both religion and mathematics attempt to express relationships between humans, the universe, and infinity. Both have arcane symbols and rituals, and impenetrable language. Both exercise the deep recesses of our minds and stimulate our imagination. Mathematicians, like priests, seek ‘ideal’, immutable truths and then often try to apply these truths to the real world. Some atheists claim another similarity: mathematics and religion are the most powerful evidence of the inventive genius of the human race.
Of course, there are also many differences between mathematics and religion." (Clifford A Pickover, "The Loom of God: Tapestries of Mathematics and Mysticism", 2009)

“Obviously, the final goal of scientists and mathematicians is not simply the accumulation of facts and lists of formulas, but rather they seek to understand the patterns, organizing principles, and relationships between these facts to form theorems and entirely new branches of human thought.” (Clifford A Pickover, "The Math Book", 2009)

"For me mathematics cultivates a perpetual state of wonder about the nature of mind, the limits of thoughts, and our place in this vast cosmos." (Clifford A Pickover)