“Mathematics as an expression of the human mind reflects the active will, the contemplative reason, and the desire for aesthetic perfection.”
“The aim of mathematics is to explain as much as possible in simple terms.”
Source: Collected Works: Michael Atiyah Collected Works: Volume 1: Early Papers; General Papers
“Mathematics is often defined as the science of space and number . . . it was not until the recent resonance of computers and mathematics that a more apt definition became fully evident: mathematics is the science of patterns.”
“Philosophically, mathematics is not a part of science. Mathematics studies patterns, science studies nature”
“Very little mathematics has direct applications - though fortunately most of it has plenty of indirect ones.”
Source: Indiscrete Thoughts
“These days people are much more aware that mathematics is a communal endeavor: even the most brilliant idea gets meaning only from its relation to the whole.”
“It is natural to think that an abstract science cannot be of much importance in affairs of human life, because it has omitted from its consideration everything of real interest.”
Source: An Introduction to Mathematics
“In mathematical science, more than in all others, it happens that truths which are at one period the most abstract, and apparently the most remote from all useful application, become in the next age the bases of profound physical inquiries, and in the succeeding one, perhaps, by proper simplification and reduction to tables, furnish their ready and daily aid to the artist and the sailor.”
Source: Reflections on the decline of science in England and on some of its causes: with a new appendix of correspondence by Charles Babbage & Peter M. Roget from the Philosophical magazine
“The lack of real contact between mathematics and biology is either a tragedy, a scandal or a challenge, it is hard to decide which.”
Source: Discrete Thoughts: Essays on Mathematics, Science and Philosophy
“Mathematics commands all my respect, but I have no use for engines.”
Source: The Complete Novels of Joseph Conrad - All 20 Works in One Premium Edition: Including Unforgettable Titles like Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, The Secret Agent, Nostromo, Under Western Eyes and Many More (With Author’s Letters, Memoirs and Critical Essays)
