Mathematics may be defined as the subject in which we never know what we are talking about, nor whether what we are saying is true.

—Bertrand Russell

About Bertrand Russell

Portrait of Bertrand Russell

Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970), was an English mathematician and philosopher. A founder of analytic philosophy, he was a leading philosopher of the 20th century who produced pioneering work in logic, set theory, and philosophy of language. Russell popularised philosophy to...

More quotations from Bertrand Russell

To deny our own impulses is to deny the very thing that makes us human.

—Bertrand Russell

If a man empties his purse into his head no one can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.

—Bertrand Russell

So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence.

—Bertrand Russell

Men fear thought as they fear nothing else on earth—more than ruin—more even than death.… Thought is subversive and revolutionary, destructive and terrible, thought is merciless to privilege, established institutions, and comfortable habit. Thought looks into the pit of hell and is not afraid. Thought is great and swift and free, the light of the world, and the chief glory of man.

—Bertrand Russell

If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. The origin of myths is explained in this way.

—Bertrand Russell

More quotations tagged with “mathematics”

Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater.

—Albert Einstein

As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.

—Albert Einstein

The law embodies the story of a nation's development through many centuries, and it cannot be dealt with as if it contained only the axioms and corollaries of a book of mathematics.

—Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

history development law mathematics

Nobody listens to mathematicians

—Carl Sagan in Cosmos

We especially need imagination in science. It is not all mathematics, nor all logic, but it is somewhat beauty and poetry.

—Maria Mitchell

beauty imagination poetry science mathematics logic

History

11 Jul 2015 Added