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.
More Quotes from E. T. Bell:
"Obvious" is the most dangerous word in mathematics.E. T. Bell
The longer mathematics lives the more abstract - and therefore, possibly also the more practical - it becomes.
E. T. Bell
Time makes fools of us all. Our only comfort is that greater shall come after us.
E. T. Bell
I have always hated machinery, and the only machine I ever understood was a wheelbarrow, and that but imperfectly.
E. T. Bell
Out of fifty mathematical papers presented in brief at such a meeting, it is a rare mathematician indeed who really understands what more than half a dozen are about.
E. T. Bell
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Based on Topics: Art Quotes, Creativity & Innovation Quotes, Fitness Quotes, Mathematics Quotes, Past Quotes, Simplicity QuotesBased on Keywords: generality, indefinable, symmetry
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