Portrait of Johann Wolfgang Goethe

Johann Wolfgang Goethe

1749–1832

German writer

Mathematics has the completely false reputation of yielding infallible conclusions.

TOPICS: philosophy

I  have heard myself accused of being an opponent, an enemy of mathematics, which no one can value more highly than I, for it accomplishes the very thing whose achievement has been denied me.

TOPICS: none

Mathematicians are a species of Frenchmen: if you say something to them they translate it into their own language and presto! It is something entirely different.

TOPICS: mathematicians, humor