Wisdom Quotes

The best minds across centuries have wrestled with what it means to be wise. These quotes capture their hard-won insights.

64329 quotes

B
"To reject the law of excluded middle is to embrace ambiguity and nuance."
Brouwer, Luitzen Egbertus Jan
B
"The paradoxes of mathematics point toward a deeper order."
Brouwer, Luitzen Egbertus Jan
B
"A mathematical system is valid only insofar as it serves human understanding."
Brouwer, Luitzen Egbertus Jan
B
"The essence of a theorem is the insight it provides, not the symbols that express it."
Brouwer, Luitzen Egbertus Jan
B
"Constructive mathematics respects the dignity of human understanding."
Brouwer, Luitzen Egbertus Jan
B
"The paradoxes of mathematics are invitations to deeper understanding."
Brouwer, Luitzen Egbertus Jan
B
"Rigorous mathematics honors both precision and intuition."
Brouwer, Luitzen Egbertus Jan
B
"The infinite can be approached but never exhausted by finite human thought."
Brouwer, Luitzen Egbertus Jan
H
"We must know, we will know."
Hilbert, David
H
"The contemplation of abstract forms is one of the highest pleasures of the human intellect."
Hilbert, David
H
"The greatest challenge is not to discover new truths, but to understand why they are true."
Hilbert, David
H
"In mathematics, as in life, elegance is often the sign of truth."
Hilbert, David
H
"Logic without intuition is mechanical; intuition without logic is blind."
Hilbert, David
H
"The study of mathematics ennobles the human spirit."
Hilbert, David
H
"The most profound mathematical insights often seem simple once understood."
Hilbert, David
H
"Genius in mathematics is recognizing what matters and what does not."
Hilbert, David
H
"The elegance of a solution is often proportional to its correctness."
Hilbert, David
H
"A paradox in mathematics is a sign that we have not yet understood the question."
Hilbert, David
H
"The greatest mathematical minds think in terms of patterns and relationships."
Hilbert, David
H
"In mathematics, we find the eternal principles that guide all existence."
Hilbert, David
H
"To understand one mathematical truth is to begin understanding all truths."
Hilbert, David
F
"To have a concept is to grasp a universal truth."
Frege, Gottlob
F
"Every concept carves reality at its joints."
Frege, Gottlob
F
"The meaning of a term is what the wise understand by it."
Frege, Gottlob
F
"A definition must capture the essential nature of a concept."
Frege, Gottlob
F
"Language is the medium through which we grasp the world."
Frege, Gottlob
F
"To understand a word is to grasp its sense completely."
Frege, Gottlob
F
"A term's reference is determined by conventional rules, not nature."
Frege, Gottlob
F
"To doubt the law of non-contradiction is to doubt thought itself."
Frege, Gottlob
F
"A concept is grasped when we understand all its logical relations."
Frege, Gottlob