"If some great mathematicians have known how to give lyrical expression to their enthusiasm for the beauty of their science, nobody has suggested examining it as if it were the object of an art - mathematical art - and consequently the subject of a theory of aesthetics, the aesthetics of mathematics" (François Le Lionnais, Great Currents of Mathematical Thought", 1971)
"The evolutionary vision is agnostic in regard to systems in the universe of greater complexity than those of which human beings have clear knowledge. It recognizes aesthetic, moral, and religious ideas and experiences as a species, in this case of mental structures or of images, which clearly interacts with other species in the world's great' ecosystem." (Kenneth Boulding," Ecodynamics: A New Theory of Societal Evolution", 1978)
[...] despite an objectivity about mathematical results that has no parallel in the world of art, the motivation and standards of creative mathematics are more like those of art than of science. Aesthetic judgments transcend both logic and applicability in the ranking of mathematical theorems: beauty and elegance have more to do with the value of a mathematical idea than does either strict truth or possible utility." (Lynn A Steen, „Mathematics Today: Twelve Informal Essays", 1978)
"Geometry is the study of shapes. Although true, this definition is so broad that it is almost meaningless. The judge of a beauty contest is, in a sense, a geometrician because he is judging […] shapes, but this is not quite what we want the word to mean. It has been said that a curved line is the most beautiful distance between two points. Even though this statement is about curves, a proper element of geometry, the assertion seems more to be in the domain of aesthetics rather than mathematics." (Martin Gardner, "Aha! Insight", 1978)
"The evolutionary vision is agnostic in regard to systems in the universe of greater complexity than those of which human beings have clear knowledge. It recognizes aesthetic, moral, and religious ideas and experiences as a species, in this case of mental structures or of images, which clearly interacts with other species in the world's great' ecosystem." (Kenneth Boulding," Ecodynamics: A New Theory of Societal Evolution", 1978)
"The motivation and standards of creative mathematics are more like those of art than like those of science. Aesthetic judgments transcend both logic and applicability in the ranking of mathematical theorems: beauty and elegance have more to do with the value of a mathematical idea than does either strict truth or possible utility." (Lynn Arthur Steen, "Mathematics Today: Twelve Informal Essays", 1978)
"There are three reasons for the study of inequalities: practical, theoretical and aesthetic. On the aesthetic aspects, as has been pointed out, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. However, it is generally agreed that certain pieces of music, art, or mathematics are beautiful. There is an elegance to inequalities that makes them very attractive." (Richard E Bellman, 1978)
"Mathematics is not a branch of aesthetics. The mistake, which is common enough, probably stems from the requirement of aesthetic unity but is not identical with that unity." (J K Feibleman,"Assumptions of Grand Logics", 1979)
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