Stanislaw Ulam - Mathematics Quotes

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Mathematics may be a way of developing physically, that is anatomically, new connections in the brain.

Stanislaw Ulam
In many cases, mathematics is an escape from reality. The mathematician finds his own monastic niche and happiness in pursuits that are disconnected from external affairs. Some practice it as if using a drug.

Stanislaw Ulam
It was not so much that I was doing mathematics, but rather that mathematics had taken possession of me.

Stanislaw Ulam
What exactly is mathematics? Many have tried but nobody has really succeeded in defining mathematics; it is always something else.

Stanislaw Ulam
Thanks to my memory, which enabled me to quote Latin and to discuss Greek and Roman civilization, it became obvious to some of my colleagues in other fields that I was interested in things outside mathematics. This lead quickly to very pleasant relationships.

Stanislaw Ulam
Even the simplest calculation in the purest mathematics can have terrible consequences. Without the invention of the infinitesimal calculus most of our technology would have been impossible. Should we say therefore that calculus is bad?

Stanislaw Ulam
Ada came from Lwów. She was a very good looking girl who was studying mathematics at the University of Geneva. For a few years I had an off-and-on romance with her.

Stanislaw Ulam
As a mathematician, von Neumann was quick, brilliant, efficient, and enormously broad in scientific interests beyond mathematics itself. He knew his technical abilities; his virtuosity in following complicated reasoning and his insights were supreme; yet he lacked absolute self confidence.

Stanislaw Ulam
In mathematics, as in physics, so much depends on chance, on a propitious moment.

Stanislaw Ulam
Do not lose your faith. A mighty fortress is our mathematics. Mathematics will rise to the challenge, as it always has.

Stanislaw Ulam