“Science and mathematics
Run parallel to reality, they symbolize it, they squint at it,
They never touch it”

"The Silent Shepherds" (1958)
Context: Science and mathematics
Run parallel to reality, they symbolize it, they squint at it,
They never touch it: consider what an explosion
Would rock the bones of men into little white fragments and unsky the world
If any mind for a moment touch truth.

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 "Science and mathematics Run parallel to reality, they symbolize it, they squint at it, They never touch it" by Robinson Jeffers?
Robinson Jeffers photo
Robinson Jeffers 59
American poet 1887–1962

Related quotes

Eric Temple Bell photo

“Any impatient student of mathematics or science or engineering who is irked by having algebraic symbolism thrust on him should try to get on without it for a week.”

Eric Temple Bell (1883–1960) mathematician and science fiction author born in Scotland who lived in the United States for most of his li…

Source: Mathematics: Queen and Servant of Science (1938), p. 226
Context: Some of his deepest discoveries were reasoned out verbally with very few if any symbols, and those for the most part mere abbreviations of words. Any impatient student of mathematics or science or engineering who is irked by having algebraic symbolism thrust on him should try to get on without it for a week.

David Deutsch photo

“We are confronted with problems of organized complexity… organization runs through all levels of reality and science.”

Ludwig von Bertalanffy (1901–1972) austrian biologist and philosopher

Source: 1960s, Robots, Men and Minds (1967), p. 58. as cited in: Doede Keuning (1973) Algemene systeemtheorie. p. 185

“Science does not speak of the world in the language of words alone, and in many cases it simply cannot do so. The natural language of science is a synergistic integration of words, diagrams, pictures, graphs, maps, equations, tables, charts, and other forms of visual and mathematical expression… [Science thus consists of] the languages of visual representation, the languages of mathematical symbolism, and the languages of experimental operations.”

Jay Lemke (1946) American academic

Jay Lemke (2003), "Teaching all the languages of science: Words , symbols, images and actions," p. 3; as cited in: Scott, Phil, Hilary Asoko, and John Leach. "Student conceptions and conceptual learning in science." Handbook of research on science education (2007): 31-56.

Larry Niven photo

“The Gamers are so out of touch with reality that they were never considered a serious threat.”

Source: Dream Park (1981), Chapter 10, “Neutral Scent” (p. 140)

Arthur Stanley Eddington photo
William Thurston photo
Leonardo Da Vinci photo

“There is no certainty in sciences where one of the mathematical sciences cannot be applied, or which are not in relation with these mathematics.”

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519) Italian Renaissance polymath

The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (1883), XIX Philosophical Maxims. Morals. Polemics and Speculations.

G. I. Gurdjieff photo

“In right knowledge the study of man must proceed on parallel lines with the study of the world, and the study of the world must run parallel with the study of man.”

G. I. Gurdjieff (1866–1949) influential spiritual teacher, Armenian philosopher, composer and writer

In Search of the Miraculous (1949)

Fausto Cercignani photo

“Stellar wars are a sort of parallel reality in the filmic imagination, terrestrial wars are still today a harsh daily reality.”

Fausto Cercignani (1941) Italian scholar, essayist and poet

Examples of self-translation (c. 2004), Quotes - Zitate - Citations - Citazioni

Related topics