Proofs Math Quotes & Sayings

God has the Big Book, the beautiful proofs of mathematical theorems are listed here. — Paul Erdos

For we may remark generally of our mathematical researches, that these auxiliary quantities, these long and difficult calculations into which we are often drawn, are almost always proofs that we have not in the beginning considered the objects themselves so thoroughly and directly as their nature requires, since all is abridged and simplified, as soon as we place ourselves in a right point of view. — Louis Poinsot

No one recovers from the disease of being born, a deadly wound if there ever was one. — Emil Cioran

Mathematical proofs, like diamonds, are hard and clear, and will be touched with nothing but strict reasoning. — John Locke

Only professional mathematicians learn anything from proofs. Other people learn from explanations. — Ralph P. Boas Jr.

The school reports say you don't concentrate. But you don't concentrate because you are thinking. They don't understand that. They think intelligence is all about soaking up knowledge. But true intelligence- the intelligence that really counts- is the ability to interpret facts to make them you own. — Chris Priestley

You're an idiot, half-breed," she taunted, as I kicked snow at her. She dodged easily. "Rowan's too good for you, and he's experienced. Most everyone, fey and mortal boys included, would give their teeth to have him to themselves for a night. Try him. I guarantee you'll like it."
"Not interested," I snapped, glaring at her with narrowed eyes. My butt still stung, making my words sharp. "I'm done playing games with faery princes. They can go to hell, for all I care. I'd rather strip naked for a group of redcaps."
"Ooh, if you do, can I watch? — Julie Kagawa

Never lie; never cheat; never steal. Don't whine; don't complain; don't make excuses. — John Wooden

The Prussian Academy of Sciences is a fast-track academic institute that requires a proactive, hands-on-type individual to overthrow the Newtonian conception of the universe. The successful candidate will have an excellent command of mass, energy, space, time and some maths. Bonus paid upon completion of proofs — Albert Einstein

It's specifically this Z = 2^(Aleph0) that he couldn't prove. Ever. Despite years of unimaginable doodling. Whether it's what unhinged him or not is an unanswerable question, but it is true that his inability to prove the C.H. caused Cantor pain for the rest of his life; he considered it his great failure. This too, in hindsight, is sad, because professional mathematicians now know exactly why G. Cantor could neither prove nor disprove the C.H. The reasons are deep and important and go corrosively to the root of axiomatic set theory's formal Consistency, in rather the same way that K. Godel's Incompleteness proofs deracinate all math as a formal system. Once again, the issues here can be only sketched or synopsized (although this time Godel is directly involved, so the whole thing is probably fleshed out in the Great Discoveries Series' Godel booklet). — David Foster Wallace

A math lecture without a proof is like a movie without a love scene. This talk has two proofs. — Hendrik Lenstra

You don't have to wait for something "meaningful" to come into your life so that you can finally enjoy what you do. There is more meaning in joy than you will ever need. The "waiting to start living" syndrome is one of the most common delusions of the unconscious state. — Eckhart Tolle

That was ... I don't even know what that was." Derek's voice was nothing more than a rasping whisper. "That was making love, dirty style. — Moira Rogers

A mathematician's reputation rests on the number of bad proofs he has given. — Abram Samoilovitch Besicovitch

Here are the basic principles of Constructivism as practiced by Kronecker and codified by J.H. Poincare and L.E.J. Brouwer and other major figures in Intuitionism: (1) Any mathematical statement or theorem that is more complicated or abstract than plain old integer-style arithmetic must be explicitly derived (i.e. 'constructed') from integer arithmetic via a finite number of purely deductive steps. (2) The only valid proofs in math are constructive ones, with the adjective here meaning that the proof provides a method for finding (i.e., 'constructing') whatever mathematical entities it's concerned with. — David Foster Wallace