Morris Kline Quotes

• The writing in mathematics text is not only laconic to a fault; it is cold, monotonous, dry, dull, and even ungrammatical... The books are not only printed by machines; they are written by machines.

  Morris Kline

  Book, Writing, Faults

  19 Copy quote

• Statistics: the mathematical theory of ignorance.

  Morris Kline

  Ignorance, Math, Statistics

  17 Copy quote

• A elegantly executed proof is a poem in all but the form in which it is written.

  Morris Kline

  Beauty, Art, Proof

  Morris Kline (1964). “Mathematics in Western Culture”, p.546, Oxford University Press

  13 Copy quote

• Mathematicians create by acts of insights and intuition. Logic then sanctions the conquests of intuition.

  Morris Kline

  Education, Knowledge, Math

  Morris Kline (1964). “Mathematics in Western Culture”, p.408, Oxford University Press

  13 Copy quote

• Actually, most mathematics courses do not teach reasoning of any kind. Students are so baffled by the material that they are obliged to memorize in order to pass examinations.

  Morris Kline

  Order, Examination, Baffled

  13 Copy quote

• [The error in the teaching of mathematics is that] mathematics is expected either to be immediately attractive to students on its own merits or to be accepted by students solely on the basis of the teacher's assurance that it will be helpful in later life. [And yet,] mathematlcs is the key to understanding and mastering our physical, social and biological worlds.

  Morris Kline

  Life, Teacher, Teaching

  14 Copy quote

• Perhaps the best reason for regarding mathematics as an art is not so much that it affords an outlet for creative activity as that it provides spiritual values. It puts man in touch with the highest aspirations and lofiest goals. It offers intellectual delight and the exultation of resolving the mysteries of the universe.

  Morris Kline

  Spiritual, Art, Science

  Morris Kline (2013). “Mathematics for the Nonmathematician”, p.551, Courier Corporation

  7 Copy quote

• Psychologically, the teaching of abstractions first is wrong. Indeed, a thorough understanding of the concrete must precede the abstract.

  Morris Kline

  Teaching, Thorough Understanding, Firsts

  11 Copy quote

• The most fertile source of insight is hindsight.

  Morris Kline

  Hindsight, Source, Insight

  Morris Kline (1982). “Mathematics: The Loss of Certainty”, p.101, Oxford University Press, USA

  7 Copy quote

• Universities hire professors the way some men choose wives - they want the ones the others will admire.

  Morris Kline

  Math, Men, Wife

  14 Copy quote

• A proof tells us where to concentrate our doubts.

  Morris Kline

  Math, Doubt, Proof

  Morris Kline (1964). “Mathematics in Western Culture”, p.478, Oxford University Press

  8 Copy quote

• There is no rigorous definition of rigor.

  Morris Kline

  Science, Definitions, Rigor

  9 Copy quote

• In brief, the whole world is the totality of mathematically expressible motions of objects in space and time, and the entire universe is a great, harmonious, and mathematically designed machine.

  Morris Kline

  Space, Machines, World

  8 Copy quote

• On all levels primary, and secondary and undergraduate - mathematics is taught as an isolated subject with few, if any, ties to the real world. To students, mathematics appears to deal almost entirely with things whlch are of no concern at all to man.

  Morris Kline

  Education, Real, Science

  9 Copy quote

• The stone that Dr. Johnson once kicked to demonstrate the reality of matter has become dissipated in a diffuse distribution of mathematical probabilities. The ladder that Descartes, Galileo, Newton, and Leibniz erected in order to scale the heavens rests upon a continually shifting, unstable foundation.

  Morris Kline

  Science, Reality, Order

  Morris Kline (1964). “Mathematics in Western Culture”, p.382, Oxford University Press

  7 Copy quote

• Every paper published in a respectable journal should have a preface by the author stating why he is publishing the article, and what value he sees in it. I have no hope that this practice will ever be adopted.

  Morris Kline

  Practice, Should Have, Paper

  7 Copy quote

• Mathematics is a body of knowledge, but it contains no truths.

  Morris Kline

  Knowledge, Math, Body

  Morris Kline (1964). “Mathematics in Western Culture”, p.9, Oxford University Press

  8 Copy quote

• Though determinants and matrices received a great deal of attention in the nineteenth century and thousands of papers were written on these subjects, they do not constitute great innovations in mathematics.... Neither determinants nor matrices have influenced deeply the course of mathematics despite their utility as compact expressions and despite the suggestiveness of matrices as concrete groups for the discernment of general theorems of group theory.

  Morris Kline

  Expression, Innovation, Groups

  Morris Kline (1990). “Mathematical Thought From Ancient to Modern Times”, p.795, Oxford University Press

  7 Copy quote

• The tantalizing and compelling pursuit of mathematical problems offers mental absorption, peace of mind amid endless challenges, repose in activity, battle without conflict, refuge from the goading urgency of contingent happenings, and the sort of beauty changeless mountains present to senses tried by the present day kaleidoscope of events.

  Morris Kline

  Teaching, Math, Challenges

  Morris Kline (1964). “Mathematics in Western Culture”, p.470, Oxford University Press

  9 Copy quote

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