“The moving power of mathematical invention is not reasoning, but imagination.”

—  Augustus De Morgan

Quoted in Robert Perceval Graves, The Life of Sir William Rowan Hamilton, Vol. 3 (1889), p. 219.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The moving power of mathematical invention is not reasoning, but imagination." by Augustus De Morgan?
Augustus De Morgan photo
Augustus De Morgan41
British mathematician, philosopher and university teacher (… 1806–1871

Related quotes

George Pólya photo

“The result of the mathematician's creative work is demonstrative reasoning, a proof; but the proof is discovered by plausible reasoning, by guessing. If the learning of mathematics reflects to any degree the invention of mathematics, it must have a place for guessing, for plausible inference.”

George Pólya (1887–1985) Hungarian mathematician

Induction and Analogy in Mathematics (1954)

“The history of mathematics throws little light on the psychology of mathematical invention.”

George Frederick James Temple (1901–1992) British mathematician

100 Years of Mathematics: a Personal Viewpoint (1981)

Constantine P. Cavafy photo

“On hearing about powerful love, respond, be moved
like an aesthete.
On hearing about powerful love, respond, be moved
like an aesthete. Only, fortunate as you’ve been,
remember how much your imagination created for you.”

Constantine P. Cavafy (1863–1933) Greek poet

Source: http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=157&cat=4 On Hearing of Love
Collected Poems (1992)

Richard Feynman photo

“Mathematics is not just a language. Mathematics is a language plus reasoning.”

Richard Feynman book The Character of Physical Law

Source: The Character of Physical Law (1965), chapter 2, “The Relation of Mathematics to Physics”
Context: Mathematics is not just a language. Mathematics is a language plus reasoning. It's like a language plus logic. Mathematics is a tool for reasoning. It's, in fact, a big collection of the results of some person's careful thought and reasoning. By mathematics, it is possible to connect one statement to another.

David Hilbert photo

“This conviction of the solvability of every mathematical problem is a powerful incentive to the worker. We hear within us the perpetual call: There is the problem. Seek its solution. You can find it by pure reason, for in mathematics there is no ignorabimus.”

David Hilbert Mathematical Problems

Mathematical Problems (1900)

Frida Kahlo photo

“What I wanted to express very clearly and intensely was that the reason these people had to invent or imagine heroes and gods is pure fear. Fear of life and fear of death.”

Frida Kahlo (1907–1954) Mexican painter

Wallace Stevens photo

“For the poet, the imagination is paramount, and... he dwells apart in his imagination, as the philosopher dwells in his reason, and as the priest dwells in his belief … The imagination is the power of the mind over the possibilities of things.”

Wallace Stevens (1879–1955) American poet

The Necessary Angel (1951), Imagination as Value

Letitia Elizabeth Landon photo

“Imagination's truth is from its power:
Man's genius can create when nature's felt;
He copies when he deems that he invents.”

Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838) English poet and novelist

Translations, From the French

Samuel Taylor Coleridge photo

“I have often been surprised that Mathematics, the quintessence of Truth, should have found admirers so few and so languid. Frequent consideration and minute scrutiny have at length unravelled the cause: viz. that though Reason is feasted, Imagination is starved; whilst Reason is luxuriating in its proper Paradise, Imagination is wearily travelling on a dreary desert.”

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English poet, literary critic and philosopher

Letter to his brother (1791).
Letters

Thomas Edison photo

“To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.”

Thomas Edison (1847–1931) American inventor and businessman

As quoted in Behavior-Based Robotics (1998) by Ronald C. Arkin. p. 8.
Date unknown

Related topics