“The scientist has to take 95 per cent of his subject on trust. He has to because he can't possibly do all the experiments, therefore he has to take on trust the experiments all his colleagues and predecessors have done. Whereas a mathematician doesn't have to take anything on trust. Any theorem that's proved, he doesn't believe it, really, until he goes through the proof himself, and therefore he knows his whole subject from scratch. He's absolutely 100 per cent certain of it. And that gives him an extraordinary conviction of certainty, and an arrogance that scientists don't have.” KnowsGivingBelieveDoneWholeScienceCertainBeliefSubjectsScientistExtraordinaryConvictionProofExperimentsCertaintyArroganceCentsMathematicianColleaguesScratchesPredecessorsTheorems Author:Christopher Zeeman
“When you write something new about science, other scientists may not like it but they pay attention because it is subject to proof. When you write something new about art, it is subject only to the reader's discomfort, and will probably be rejected.” WritingMayArtPayAttentionSubjectsReaderScientistProofPay AttentionSomething NewRejectedDiscomfort Author:Walter Darby Bannard
“On the whole, however, the conclusions I have drawn from the proofs quoted may, I believe, safely be relied on. Assuredly they will not be disturbed either by the lays of a poet displaying the exaggeration of his craft, or by the compositions of the chroniclers that are attractive at truth's expense; the subjects they treat of being out of the reach of evidence, and time having robbed most of them of historical value by enthroning them in the region of legend.” BelieveMayWholeValuesI BelieveSubjectsPoetEvidenceTreatsLaysHistoricalProofConclusionCraftsAttractiveRegionsExpensesLegendsCompositionDisturbedExaggerationHistorical Value Book:History of Greece Source: History of Greece
“I am obliged to interpolate some remarks on a very difficult subject: proof and its importance in mathematics. All physicists, and a good many quite respectable mathematicians, are contemptuous about proof. I have heard Professor Eddington, for example, maintain that proof, as pure mathematicians understand it, is really quite uninteresting and unimportant, and that no one who is really certain that he has found something good should waste his time looking for proof.” ShouldCertainFoundDifficultHeardSubjectsExamplePureWasteImportanceMathematicsProofGood ManProfessorsMathematicianPhysicistObligedRemarksRespectableUnimportantContemptuousDifficult Subjects Author:G. H. Hardy
“Superficial knowledge ... is hurtful to those who possess true genius; for it necessarily draws them away from their main object, wastes their industry over details and subjects foreign to their needs and natural talent, and lastly does not serve, as they flatter themselves, to prove the breadth of their mind. In all ages there have been men of very moderate intelligence who knew much, and so on the contrary, men of the highest intelligence who knew very little. Ignorance is not lack of intelligence, nor knowledge a proof of genius.” MenNeedsMindLittlesDoeHas BeensAgeNaturalSubjectsTalentObjectsIgnoranceIndustryGeniusProveWasteHighestDrawsDetailsProofContrarySuperficialModeratesHurtfulBreadthNatural TalentTrue GeniusSuperficial Knowledge Author:Luc de Clapiers
“A lot of the challenge and the reason for the success of those one-shot photographers is that their pictures almost have to be subject proof. Because you usually only have a few minutes with the person. You never know who's going to walk into the room - whether they're going to be friendly, grumpy, sick of photographers, or between meetings.” KnowsPersonsReasonChallengesWalksRoomsMinutesSubjectsShotsSickMeetingsPhotographerProofFriendlyGrumpy Author:Gregory Heisler