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Random Quotation
Whereas at the outset geometry is reported to have concerned herself with the measurement of muddy land, she now handles celestial as well as terrestrial problems: she has extended her domain to the furthest bounds of space. Hodder and Stoughton, The Story of Euclid. 1901.    |
Loci: ConvergenceMathematical QuotationsOur library of quotations is organized alphabetically by surname of the author. Karl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855)I am coming more and more to the conviction that the necessity of our geometry cannot be demonstrated, at least neither by, nor for, the human intellect ... geometry should be ranked, not with arithmetic, which is purely aprioristic, but with mechanics. Gauss, Karl Friedrich (1777-1855)A great part of its [higher arithmetic] theories derives an additional charm from the peculiarity that important propositions, with the impress of simplicity on them, are often easily discovered by induction, and yet are of so profound a character that we cannot find the demonstrations till after many vain attempts; and even then, when we do succeed, it is often by some tedious and artificial process, while the simple methods may long remain concealed. Gauss, Karl Friedrich (1777-1855)Finally, two days ago, I succeeded - not on account of my hard efforts, but by the grace of the Lord. Like a sudden flash of lightning, the riddle was solved. I am unable to say what was the conducting thread that connected what I previously knew with what made my success possible. Gauss, Karl Friedrich (1777-1855)It is not knowledge, but the act of learning, not possession but the act of getting there, which grants the greatest enjoyment. When I have clarified and exhausted a subject, then I turn away from it, in order to go into darkness again; the never-satisfied man is so strange if he has completed a structure, then it is not in order to dwell in it peacefully, but in order to begin another. I imagine the world conqueror must feel thus, who, after one kingdom is scarcely conquered, stretches out his arms for others. Gauss, Karl Friedrich (1777-1855)[Attributed to him
by H.B. Lubsen] Gauss, Karl Friedrich (1777-1855)[His second motto:] Gauss, Karl Friedrich (1777-1855)I have had my results for a long time: but I do not yet know how I am to arrive at them. Karl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855)I mean the word proof not in the sense of the lawyers, who set two half proofs equal to a whole one, but in the sense of a mathematician, where half proof = 0, and it is demanded for proof that every doubt becomes impossible. Gauss, Karl Friedrich (1777-1855)We must admit with humility that, while number is purely a product of our minds, space has a reality outside our minds, so that we cannot completely prescribe its properties a priori. Gauss, Karl Friedrich (1777-1855)God does arithmetic. |
