Serious Quotes (3)
Hoc age ['do this'] is the great rule, whether you are serious or merry; whether ... learning science or duty from a folio, or floating on the Thames. Intentions must be gathered from acts.
In James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson (1821), 139.
See also: | Act (2) | Duty (8) | Float (3) | Gather (3) | Intention (5) | Learn (11) | Rule (18) | Science (463)
A chess problem is genuine mathematics, but it is in some way 'trivial' mathematics. However, ingenious and intricate, however original and surprising the moves, there is something essential lacking. Chess problems are unimportant The best mathematics is serious as well as beautiful—'important' ...
'A Mathematician's Apology', in James Roy Newman, The World of Mathematics (2000), 2029.
See also: | Beautiful (2) | Chess (9) | Essential (5) | Important (6) | Intricate (2) | Mathematics (226) | Original (2) | Problem (72) | Surprise (9) | Trivial (5)
As soon as he ceased to be mad he became merely stupid. There are maladies we must not seek to cure because they alone protect us from others that are more serious.
'Le Côté de Guermantes', À la recherche du temps perdu (1913-27).
