John Allen Paulos Quotes & Sayings

The once-surprising existence of non-Euclidean models of Euclid's first four axioms can be seen as a sort of mathematical joke. — John Allen Paulos

For example, knowing that it takes only about eleven and a half days for a million seconds to tick away, whereas almost thirty-two years are required for a billion seconds to pass, gives one a better grasp of the relative magnitudes of these two common numbers. — John Allen Paulos

There is something inhuman and vaguely pornographic about statistics ... Pornography, on the other hand, with its loosely bound sequences of storyless sexual couplings often has the feel of a statistical survey. — John Allen Paulos

I sometimes think it would be beneficial if people thought of each other as "historical factorials." Thus, (Myrtle!) would be understood not just as present-day Myrtle but as the product of all her past experiences. — John Allen Paulos

Innumeracy and pseudoscience are often associated, in part because of the ease with which mathematical certainty can be invoked, to bludgeon the innumerate into a dumb acquiescence. — John Allen Paulos

The simple equations that generate the convoluted Mandelbrot fractal have been called the wittiest remarks ever made. — John Allen Paulos

The nuclear weapons on board just one of our Trident submarines contain eight times the firepower expended in all of World War II. — John Allen Paulos

I used to be surprised and even depressed when I met someone I had admired and discovered him or her to be a jerk or, perhaps worse, rather common. Now I half expect this reaction and even find it a little reassuring, maybe even uplifting. Isn't it amazing that somebody like that could produce such and such. — John Allen Paulos

So many see themselves as aggrieved; so few see themselves as aggrievers. — John Allen Paulos

The fashion pages have always baffled me. In my opinion, the articles appear to be full of gobbledygook as to make the astrology column seem factual by comparison. — John Allen Paulos

Data, data everywhere, but not a thought to think. — John Allen Paulos

Uncertainty is the only certainty there is, and knowing how to live with insecurity is the only security. — John Allen Paulos

In listening to stories we tend to suspend disbelief in order to be entertained, whereas in evaluating statistics we generally have an opposite inclination to suspend belief in order not to be beguiled. — John Allen Paulos

Uncertainty would be the only certainty there's, and realizing how to stay with insecurity could be the only protection — John Allen Paulos

How many pizzas are consumed each year in the United States? How many words have you spoken in your life? How many different peoples names appear in the New York Times each year? How many watermelons would fit inside the U.S. Capital building? What is the volume of all the human blood in the world? — John Allen Paulos

We ourselves are co-called non-linear dynamical systems ... I don't feel quite so pathetic when I interrupt a project to check on some obscure web site or newsgroup or derive an iota of cheer by getting rid of pocketful of change. — John Allen Paulos

One must give up the fantasy of a perspicacious gunslinger/investor
outwitting the market. — John Allen Paulos

When asked why he doesn't believe in astrology, the logician Raymond Smullyan responds that he's a Gemini and Geminis never believe in astrology. — John Allen Paulos

The Internet is the world's largest library. It's just that all the books are on the floor. — John Allen Paulos

In the stock market ... You can be right for the wrong reasons or wrong for the right reasons. — John Allen Paulos

Mathematics is no more computation than typing is literature. — John Allen Paulos

The only bit of logic-based public bathroom humor I know is: the difference between men and women is that between the statement [P and not Q] and the statement [Q and not P]. — John Allen Paulos

Mathematicians are a bit like the laconic Vermonter who, when asked if he's lived in the state his whole life, replies, "Not yet." — John Allen Paulos

Certainty a strange Ferris wheel of a statement! — John Allen Paulos

A German merchant of the fifteenth century asked an eminent professor where he should send his son for a good business education. The professor responded that German universities would be sufficient to teach the boy addition and subtraction but he would have to go to Italy to learn multiplication and division. Before you smile indulgently, try multiplying or even just adding the Roman numerals CCLXIV, MDCCCIX, DCL, and MLXXXI without first translating them. — John Allen Paulos