“Guided only by their feeling for symmetry, simplicity, and generality, and an indefinable sense of the fitness of things, creative mathematicians now, as in the past, are inspired by the art of mathematics rather than by any prospect of ultimate usefulness.”

—  Eric Temple Bell

As quoted in 777 Mathematical Conversation Starters http://books.google.co.in/books?id=JNbKURWmODkC&pg=PA172 (2002) by John de Pillis, p. 172

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 "Guided only by their feeling for symmetry, simplicity, and generality, and an indefinable sense of the fitness of thing…" by Eric Temple Bell?
Eric Temple Bell photo
Eric Temple Bell 14
mathematician and science fiction author born in Scotland w… 1883–1960

Related quotes

Paulo Coelho photo

“Love isn't just a feeling. It's an art. And like any art, it takes not only inspiration but also a lot of work.”

Paulo Coelho book Adultery

Source: Adultery

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)

Ernest Flagg photo

“The Greeks were men of sense; if they used the system they did so for a purpose, as artists rather than mathematicians and imperceptible irregularities could not affect that purpose.”

Ernest Flagg (1857–1947) American architect

Source: Small Houses: Their Economic Design and Construction (1922), Ch. II

Qin Gang photo

“History is our best guide. It faithfully records the past journey, and gives us inspiration for the future.”

Qin Gang (1966) politician

Source: "Keynote Speech by Ambassador Qin Gang at the Commemoration for the 50th Anniversary of President Richard Nixon’s Visit to China" https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/wjb_663304/zwjg_665342/zwbd_665378/202203/t20220303_10647768.html (25 February 2021)

Pierce Brown photo

“How can I feel so melancholy for so terrible a past? Maybe it's just the nature of us, ever wishing for things that were and could be rather than things that are and will be.”

Pierce Brown book Morning Star

Source: Morning Star (2016), Ch. 39: The Heart

Vladimir Putin photo

“We are guided by interests rather than feelings in dealing with our partners.”

Vladimir Putin (1952) President of Russia, former Prime Minister

10 December 2014 http://itar-tass.com/en/economy/766135, "Russia interested in US economy’s ability to resist current crisis — Russian PM"
2011 - 2015

Hermann Weyl photo

“Symmetry is a vast subject, significant in art and nature. Mathematics lies at its root, and it would be hard to find a better one on which to demonstrate the working of the mathematical intellect.”

Hermann Weyl (1885–1955) German mathematician

Symmetry (1952)

Marcus du Sautoy photo

“It is with Bernhard Riemann's work that we finally have the mathematical glasses to explore such worlds of the mind. And now my journey through the abstract world of 20th century mathematics has revealed that maths is the true language that the universe is written in. They key to understanding the world around us. Mathematicians aren't motivated by money and material gain, or even by practical applications of their work. For us it's the glory of solving one of the great unsolved problems that have outwitted previous generations of mathematicians. David Hilbert was right; it’s the unsolved problems of mathematics which make it a living subject. Which obsess each new generation of mathematicians. Despite all the things we've discovered over the last 7 millennia, there are still many things we don't understand. And its Hilbert’s call of "We must know, we will know" which drives mathematics.”

Marcus du Sautoy (1965) British professor of mathematics

Conclusion in BBC's The Story of Maths, episode 4

“Pure mathematics is much more than an armoury of tools and techniques for the applied mathematician. On the other hand, the pure mathematician has ever been grateful to applied mathematics for stimulus and inspiration. From the vibrations of the violin string they have drawn enchanting harmonies of Fourier Series, and to study the triode valve they have invented a whole theory of non-linear oscillations.”

George Frederick James Temple (1901–1992) British mathematician

100 Years of Mathematics: a Personal Viewpoint (1981)

Related topics