Quotable Mathematics

"The difficult problems in life always start off being simple. Great affairs always start off being small." (Lao Tzu , cca 400 BC)...

The "probability is the very guide of life" adage is attributed to Joseph Butler (1692-1752) and surprisingly (see [6])  Marcus Tu...

"[…] to the scientific mind the living and the non-living form one continuous series of systems of differing degrees of complexity […],...

"In the study of Nature conjecture must be entirely put aside, and vague hypothesis carefully guarded against. The study of Nature begi...

"In order to supply the defects of experience, we will have recourse to the probable conjectures of analogy, conclusions which we will ...

"Random chance was not a sufficient explanation of the Universe - in fact, random chance was not sufficient to explain random chance; t...

"He is not a true man of science who does not bring some sympathy to his studies, and expect to learn something by behavior as well as ...

"People are entirely too disbelieving of coincidence. They are far too ready to dismiss it and to build arcane structures of extremely ...

"Accordingly there are two main types of science, exact science [...] and empirical science [...] seeking laws which are generalization...

"Technology means the systematic application of scientific or other organized knowledge to practical tasks." (John K Galbraith, ...

"The moral universe is so closely linked to the physical universe that it is scarcely likely that they are not one and the same machine...

"It is in fact wonderful how physics - as soon as it is concerned not with technical purposes but with general results - without knowin...

"Living things have no inertia, and tend to no equilibrium." (Thomas H Huxley, "On the Educational Value of the Natural Histo...

"Symmetry is evidently a kind of unity in variety, where a whole is determined by the rhythmic repetition of similar."  (George Sa...

"Chaos is but unperceived order; it is a word indicating the limitations of the human mind and the paucity of observational facts. The ...

"Our lives today are not conducted in linear terms. They are much more quantified; a stream of random events is taking place." (Ja...

"Noise is the most impertinent of all forms of interruption. It is not only an interruption, but also a disruption of thought." (A...

"Is a random outcome completely determined, and random only by virtue of our ignorance of the most minute contributing factors? Or are ...

"One thinks one’s something unique and wonderful at the center of the universe. But in fact one’s merely a slight delay in the ongoing ...

"General systems theory is a series of related definitions, assumptions, and postulates about all levels of systems from atomic particl...