E. T. Bell Quotes

E. T. Bell — Scottish Mathematician born on February 07, 1883, died on December 21, 1960

Eric Temple Bell was a Scottish-born mathematician and science fiction writer who lived in the United States for most of his life. He published non-fiction using his given name and fiction as John Taine... (wikipedia)

'Obvious' is the most dangerous word in mathematics.

The longer mathematics lives the more abstract - and therefore, possibly also the more practical - it becomes.

Guided only by their feeling for symmetry, simplicity, and generality, and an indefinable sense of the fitness of things, creative mathematicians now, as in the past, are inspired by the art of mathematics rather than by any prospect of ultimate usefulness.

The mistakes and unresolved difficulties of the past in mathematics have always been the opportunities of its future.

Time makes fools of us all. Our only comfort is that greater shall come after us.