Lanczos, Cornelius
Most of the arts, as
painting, sculpture,
and music, have
emotional appeal to
the general public.
This is because
these arts can be
experienced by some
one or more of our
senses. Such is not
true of the art of
mathematics; this
art can be
appreciated only by
mathematicians, and
to become a
mathematician
requires a long
period of intensive
training. The
community of
mathematicians is
similar to an
imaginary community
of musical composers
whose only
satisfaction is
obtained by the
interchange among
themselves of the
musical scores they
compose.
In H. Eves,
Mathematical Circles
Squared, Boston:
Prindle, Weber and
Schmidt, 1972.
Lakatos, Imre
That sometimes clear
... and sometimes
vague stuff ...
which is ...
mathematics.
In P. Davis and R.
Hersh, The
Mathematical
Experience, Boston:
Birkhauser, 1981.
LaGrange, Joseph-Louis
[Said about the
chemist
Lavoisier:]
It
took the mob only a
moment to remove his
head; a century will
not suffice to
reproduce it.
H. Eves, An
Introduction to the
History of
Mathematics, 5th
ed., Saunders.
LaGrange, Joseph-Louis
When we ask advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice.
LaGrange, Joseph-Louis
The reader will find no figures in this work. The methods which I set forth do not require either constructions or geometrical or mechanical reasonings: but only algebraic operations, subject to a regular and uniform rule of procedure.
Preface to Mecanique Analytique.
Lord Byron
When Newton saw an
apple fall, he found
...
A mode of
proving that the
earth turn'd
round
In a most natural
whirl, called
'gravitation;'
And this is the
sole mortal who
could
grapple,
Since
Adam, with a fall or
with an apple.
Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson)
Why, sometimes I've
believed as many as
six impossible
things before
breakfast.
Alice's Adventures
in Wonderland