Life Magazine (September 1986)
“My efforts over the years had been successful to the extent, to take an example, that fractals made many mathematicians learn a lot about physics, biology, and economics. Unfortunately, most were beginning to feel they had learned enough to last for the rest of their lives. They remained mathematicians, had been changed by considering the new problems I raised, but largely went their own way.”
A Theory of Roughness (2004)
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Benoît Mandelbrot 56
Polish-born, French and American mathematician 1924–2010Related quotes
1970s, How do we tell truths that might hurt? (1975)
A Theory of Roughness (2004)
Context: For many years I had been hearing the comment that fractals make beautiful pictures, but are pretty useless. I was irritated because important applications always take some time to be revealed. For fractals, it turned out that we didn't have to wait very long. In pure science, fads come and go. To influence basic big-budget industry takes longer, but hopefully also lasts longer.
“I’ve had a lot of success; I’ve had failures, so I learn from the failure.”
On his role as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, in a 1989 CNN interview, quoted in "Oscar-winner Gregory Peck dies at age 87" in USA Today (12 June 2003) http://www.usatoday.com/life/2003-06-12-peck-obit_x.htm
Prologue, How I Became a Mathematician, p. 1.
Enigmas Of Chance (1985)
sic
Lustmord: The Writings and Artifacts of Murderers, p. 172, (1997), Brian King, ed. ISBN 096503240X
“He had learned self-control in a hard school. He had been married for thirty years.”
Source: The Silver Spike (1989), Chapter 26 (p. 528)
“I was raised to feel that doing nothing was a sin. I had to learn to do nothing.”
The Observer, 19 April, 1998, p. 23