A COLLECTION OF GOOD WORDS
数学
Mathematics
Mathematics takes us into the region of absolute necessity, to which not only the actual word, but every possible word, must conform.
数学把我们带入绝对必然性的领域，在这个领域里，不仅实际的词，而且每一个可能的词都必须符合。
We in science are spoiled by the success of mathematics. Mathematics is the study of problems so simple that they have good solutions.
我们搞科学的人被数学的成功宠坏了。数学是研究非常简单的问题，它们有很好的解决方案。
As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.
只要数学定律适用于现实，它们就是不确定的;只要它们确定，它们就不适用于现实。
Thus, in a sense, mathematics has been most advanced by those who distinguished themselves by intuition rather than by rigorous proofs.
因此，从某种意义上说，数学是由那些靠直觉而不是靠严格的证明来突出自己的人发展起来的。
Programming is one of the most difficult branches of applied mathematics; the poorer mathematicians had better remain pure mathematicians.
程序设计是应用数学中最困难的分支之一;较穷的数学家最好还是纯数学家。
Everyone knows what a curve is, until he has studied enough mathematics to become confused through the countless number of possible exceptions.
每个人都知道曲线是什么，直到他学习了足够多的数学知识，对无数可能的例外感到困惑。
For scholars and laymen alike it is not philosophy but active experience in mathematics itself that can alone answer the question: What is mathematics?
对于学者和门外汉来说，只有数学本身的积极经验，而不是哲学，才能回答这个问题:什么是数学?
As the existence of a corps of professors of mathematics is peculiar to our navy, as well as an apparent, perhaps a real, anomaly, some account of it may be of interest.
由于一支数学教授队伍的存在是我国海军所特有的，而且是一种明显的、也许是真实的反常现象，对它的一些描述可能会引起人们的兴趣。
I finally reached the conclusion that mathematics was the study I was best fitted to follow, though I did not clearly see in what way I should turn the subject to account.
我终于得出结论，数学是我最适合从事的研究，尽管我不清楚该用什么方法来解释这个问题。
If mathematics is to be understood widely, we need to emphasise its elegance and its applications. Sometimes it seems that universities want to emphasise how difficult it is!
要使数学得到广泛的理解，我们需要强调它的优雅及其应用。有时候，大学似乎想强调这是多么困难!
I could never accept findings based almost exclusively on mathematics. It ain't ignorance that causes all the trouble in this world. It's the things people know that ain't so.
我无法接受几乎完全基于数学的发现。不是无知造成了这个世界上所有的麻烦。人们知道的事情并不是这样。
I like mathematics because it is not human and has nothing particular to do with this planet or with the whole accidental universe - because, like Spinoza's God, it won't love us in return.
我喜欢数学，因为它不是人类，它与这个星球或整个偶然的宇宙没有什么特别的关系——因为，就像斯宾诺莎笔下的上帝一样，它也不会反过来爱我们。
KEEP EXPLORING
沿着这个主题，再读几句。
The study of mathematics, like the Nile, begins in minuteness but ends in magnificence.
数学的研究就像尼罗河一样，开始于细微处，结束于壮丽。
What is algebra exactly; is it those three-cornered things?
什么是代数;是那些三角形的东西吗?
There are no creeds in mathematics.
数学中没有信条。