In mathematics, as in physics, so much depends on chance, on a propitious moment. Stanislaw Ulam More Quotes by Stanislaw Ulam More Quotes From Stanislaw Ulam Knowing what is big and what is small is more important than being able to solve partial differential equations. Stanislaw Ulam ableimportantknowing Whatever is worth saying, can be stated in fifty words or less. Stanislaw Ulam fifty The mathematicians know a great deal about very little and the physicists very little about a great deal. Stanislaw Ulam mathematicianphysicistlittles The infinite we shall do right away. The finite may take a little longer. Stanislaw Ulam infinitemaylittles One conversation centered on the ever accelerating progress of technology and changes in the mode of human life, which gives the appearance of approaching some essential singularity in the history of the race beyond which human affairs, as we know them, could not continue. Stanislaw Ulam technologyracegiving I am turned off when I see only formulas and symbols, and little text. Stanislaw Ulam turned-offformulaslittles Thoughts are steered in different ways. Stanislaw Ulam different-waysdifferentway Very soon I discovered that if one gets a feeling for no more than a dozen other radiation and nuclear constants, one can imagine the subatomic world almost tangibly, and manipulate the picture dimensionally and qualitatively, before calculating more precise relationships. Stanislaw Ulam nuclearfeelingsworld I'm an agnostic. Sometimes I muse deeply on the forces that are for me invisible. When I am almost close to the idea of God, I feel immediately estranged by the horrors of this world, which he seems to tolerate. Stanislaw Ulam agnosticworldideas Do not lose your faith. A mighty fortress is our mathematics. Mathematics will rise to the challenge, as it always has. Stanislaw Ulam fortressesmathematicschallenges It is most important in creative science not to give up. If you are an optimist you will be willing to "try" more than if you are a pessimist. Stanislaw Ulam giving-upimportantcreative What exactly is mathematics? Many have tried but nobody has really succeeded in defining mathematics; it is always something else. Stanislaw Ulam exactly-isdefiningmathematics What exactly is mathematics? Many have tried but nobody has Stanislaw Ulam exactly-isnumberspeople It is still an unending source of surprise for me how a few scribbles on a blackboard or on a piece of paper can change the course of human affairs. Stanislaw Ulam piecespaperchange Mathematics may be a way of developing physically, that is anatomically, new connections in the brain. Stanislaw Ulam connectionsbrainmay Ada came from Lwów. She was a very good looking girl who was studying mathematics at the University of Geneva. For a few years I had an off-and-on romance with her. Stanislaw Ulam romancegirlyears It was not so much that I was doing mathematics, but rather that mathematics had taken possession of me. Stanislaw Ulam mathematicspossessiontaken As a mathematician, von Neumann was quick, brilliant, efficient, and enormously broad in scientific interests beyond mathematics itself. He knew his technical abilities; his virtuosity in following complicated reasoning and his insights were supreme; yet he lacked absolute self confidence. Stanislaw Ulam self-confidencebrilliantcomplicated It is not so much whether a theorem is useful that matters, but how elegant it is. Stanislaw Ulam theoremselegantmatter He [John von Neumann] had the invaluable faculty of being able to take the most difficult problem and separate it into its components, whereupon everything looked brlliantly simple. Stanislaw Ulam learningablesimple
