John Arbuthnot - Collected Quotes

"It is impossible for a Die, with such determin’d force and direction, not to fall on such a determin’d side, only I don’t know the force and direction which makes it fall on such a determin’d side, and therefore I call that Chance, which is nothing but want of Art [...]" (John Arbuthnot, "Of the Laws of Chance", 1692)

"I believe the calculation of the quantity of probability might be improved to a very useful and pleasant speculation, and applied to a great many events which are accidental, besides those of games; only these cases would be infinitely more confused, as depending on chances which the most part of men are ignorant of." (John Arbuthnot, "Of the Laws of Chance", 1692)

"The Reader may here observe the Force of Numbers, which can be successfully applied, even to those things, which one would imagine are subject to no Rules. There are very few things which we know, which are not capable of being reduc’d to a Mathematical Reasoning; and when they cannot it’s a sign our knowledge of them is very small and confus’d; and when a Mathematical Reasoning can be had it’s as great a folly to make use of any other, as to grope for a thing in the dark, when you have a Candle standing by you." (John Arbuthnot, "Of the Laws of Chance", 1692) 

"Mathematical knowledge adds vigor to the mind, frees it from prejudice, credulity, and superstition." (John Arbuthnot, "An Essay on the Usefulness of Mathematical Learning", 1701)

"Mathematics make the mind attentive to the objects which it considers. This they do by entertaining it with a great variety of truths, which are delightful and evident, but not obvious. Truth is the same thing to the understanding as music to the ear and beauty to the eye. The pursuit of it does really as much gratify a natural faculty implanted in us by our wise Creator as the pleasing of our senses: only in the former case, as the object and faculty are more spiritual, the delight is more pure, free from regret, turpitude, lassitude, and intemperance that commonly attend sensual pleasures." (John Arbuthnot, "An Essay on the Usefulness of Mathematical Learning", 1701)

"The mathematics are the friends to religion, inasmuch as they charm the passions, restrain the impetuosity of the imagination, and purge the mind from error and prejudice. Vice is error, confusion and false reasoning; and all truth is more or less opposite to it. Besides, mathematical truth may serve for a pleasant entertainment for those hours which young men are apt to throw away upon their vices; the delightfulness of them being such as to make solitude not only easy but desirable." (John Arbuthnot, "An Essay on the Usefulness of Mathematical Learning", 1701)

"To understand the theory of chance thoroughly, requires a great knowledge of numbers, and a pretty competent one of Algebra." (John Arbuthnot, "An Essay on the Usefulness of Mathematical Learning", 1701)