"Discoveries are not generally made in the order of their scientific arrangement: their connexions and relations are made out gradually; and it is only when the fermentation of invention has subsided that the whole clears into simplicity and order. " (William Whewell, "An Elementary Treatise on Mechanics" Vol. I, 1819)
"To invent without scruple a new principle to every new phenomenon, instead of adapting it to the old; to overload our hypothesis with a variety of this kind, are certain proofs that none of these principles is the just one, and that we only desire, by a number of falsehoods, to cover our ignorance of the truth." (David Hume, "Of the passions", 1826)
"For one person who is blessed with the power of invention, many will always be found who have the capacity of applying principles." (Charles Babbage, "Reflections on the Decline of Science in England, and on Some of Its Causes", 1830)
"It is not easy to anatomize the constitution and the operations of a mind which makes such an advance in knowledge. Yet we may observe that there must exist in it, in an eminent degree, the elements which compose the mathematical talent. It must possess distinctness of intuition, tenacity and facility in tracing logical connection, fertility of invention, and a strong tendency to generalization." (William Whewell, "History of the Inductive Sciences" Vol. 1, 1837)
Quotes and Resources Related to Mathematics, (Mathematical) Sciences and Mathematicians
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Douglas T Ross - Collected Quotes
"Automatic design has the computer do too much and the human do too little, whereas automatic programming has the human do too much and...
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