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A (38) B (44) C (35) D (64) E (53) F (14) G (42) H (79) I (3) J (22) K (29) L (47) M (29) N (18) O (4) P (89) Q (1) R (37) S (40) T (16) U (1) V (8) W (63) Y (1) Z (1)
Bolyai, Janos (1802-1860)
Out of nothing I have created a strange new universe.
[A reference to the creation of a non-Euclidean geometry.]
Bolyai, Wolfgang (1775-1856)
[To son Janos:]
For God's sake, please give it up. Fear it no less than the sensual passion, because it, too, may take up all your time and deprive you of your health, peace of mind and happiness in life.
[Bolyai's father urging him to give up work on non-Euclidean geometry.]
In P. Davis and R. Hersh, The Mathematical Experience, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1981, p. 220.
Bohr, Niels Henrik David (1885-1962)
An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes, which can be made, in a very narrow field.
Blake
God forbid that Truth should be confined to Mathematical Demonstration!
Notes on Reynold's Discourses, c. 1808.
Besicovitch, A.S.
A mathematician's reputation rests on the number of bad proofs he has given.
In J. E. Littlewood A Mathematician's Miscellany, Methuen & Co. Ltd., 1953.
Bernoulli, Johann
But just as much as it is easy to find the differential of a given quantity, so it is difficult to find the integral of a given differential. Moreover, sometimes we cannot say with certainty whether the integral of a given quantity can be found or not.
Bernoulli, Jakob (1654-1705)
I recognize the lion by his paw.
[After reading an anonymous solution to a problem that he realized was Newton's solution.]
In G. Simmons, Calculus Gems, New York: McGraw Hill, 1992, p. 136.
Bernoulli, Daniel
[I]t would be better for the true physics if there were no mathematicians on earth.
In The Mathematical Intelligencer, v. 13, no. 1, Winter 1991.
Bentham, Jeremy (1748-1832)
O Logic: born gatekeeper to the Temple of Science, victim of capricious destiny: doomed hitherto to be the drudge of pedants: come to the aid of thy master, Legislation.
In J. Browning (ed.) Works.
Belloc, Hillaire (1870-1953)
Statistics are the triumph of the quantitative method, and the quantitative method is the victory of sterility and death.
The Silence of the Sea

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