A Quote by Gian-Carlo Rota

We often hear that mathematics consists mainly of "proving theorems." Is a writer's job mainly that of "writing sentences?"

Gian-Carlo Rota

Quote Topics

Consists Hear Job Mainly Mathematics Often Proving Sentences Theorems Writer Writing

Quote Author

Gian-Carlo Rota
American - Mathematician
April 27, 1932 - April 18, 1999

To many, mathematics is a collection of theorems. For me, mathematics is a collection of examples; a theorem is a statement about a collection of examples and the purpose of proving theorems is to classify and explain the examples.

John B. Conway

Life does not consist mainly, or even largely, of facts and happenings. It consists mainly ofthe storm of thought that is forever flowing through one's head.

Mark Twain

I think that mathematics can benefit by acknowledging that the creation of good models is just as important as proving deep theorems.

David Mumford

The cliche of call-centre work is that it's mainly older people who will stay on the line to talk to you. Whether through loneliness or good manners, they tend to allow you to finish your sentences, hear you out.

Sara Pascoe

The mystery of writing advertisements consists mainly in saying in a few plain words exactly what it is desired to say, precisely as it would be written in a letter or told to an acquaintance.

George P. Rowell

I was mainly a blocker in college. I mainly lined up in the backfield at fullback.

Glenn Gronkowski

Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned.

Mark Twain

Writers quite often starve. And I'm mainly just writing critical prose and poetry, that's a formula for starvation.

Clive James

I suspect that writer's block afflicts mainly people who have some stable and ample source of income outside of writing. So far it hasn't been a problem.

Fred Saberhagen

The communists were mainly responsible for the destruction of the Spanish anarchists. Not just in Catalonia - the communist armies mainly destroyed the collectives elsewhere.

Noam Chomsky

At cricket, I was mainly a bowler and tried to bat. I hit the odd four or six and then got out! In athletics, I was mainly triple jump and 200m.

Chris Smalling

Many legitimate forms of ownership, mainly cooperative and communal, had not been used to any effective extent mainly because of the imposition of Stalinist restrictions.

Alexander Dubcek

Mystery is an inescapable ingredient of mathematics. Mathematics is full of unanswered questions, which far outnumber known theorems and results. It's the nature of mathematics to pose more problems than it can solve. Indeed, mathematics itself may be built on small islands of truth comprising the pieces of mathematics that can be validated by relatively short proofs. All else is speculation.