Life is going to be complex, and the only way we're able navigate our way through it at all is by living as best we can and absorbing those experiences and somehow making intuitive responses in future situations that resemble them in some way. Daniel Tammet More Quotes by Daniel Tammet More Quotes From Daniel Tammet My algebra was relatively poor. I found it very difficult to use equations that substituted numbers - to which I had a synesthetic and emotional response - for letters, to which I had none. It was because of this that I decided not to continue math at Advanced level, but chose to study history, French and German instead. Daniel Tammet emotional math numbers Why learn a number like pi to so many decimal places? The answer I gave then as I do now is that pi is for me an extremely beautiful and utterly unique thing. Like the Mona Lisa or a Mozart symphony, pi is its own reason for loving it. Daniel Tammet symphony unique beautiful When I achieved the European record for reciting pi in 2004, this captured the imagination of Professor Simon Baron-Cohen in Cambridge and he finally diagnosed me with Asperger's that year. Daniel Tammet records imagination years I thought of the infinitely many points that can divide the space between two human hearts. Daniel Tammet space heart two Aesthetic judgments, rather than abstract reasoning, guide and shape the process by which we all come to know what we know. Daniel Tammet motivation shapes inspiration I remember as a young child, during one of my frequent trips to the local library, spending hours looking at book after book trying in vain to find one that had my name on it. Because there were so many books in the library, with so many different names on them, I’d assumed that one of them — somewhere — had to be mine. I didn’t understand at the time that a person’s name appears on a book because he or she wrote it. Now that I’m twenty-six I know better. If I were ever going to find my book one day, I was going to have to write it. Daniel Tammet writing book children Even the greatest mathematicians, the ones that we would put into our mythology of great mathematicians, had to do a great deal of leg work in order to get to the solution in the end. Daniel Tammet legs ends order There are estimated to be fewer that 50 prodigious savants worldwide. If we were brought together, it would be disappointing in the sense of us having different abilities. One thing that would make me feel united with them would be the sense of us having grown up in isolation. Daniel Tammet different would-be together Every culture has contributed to maths just as it has contributed to literature. It's a universal language; numbers belong to everyone. Daniel Tammet math numbers culture I certainly have routines in my day-to-day life that are important to me and still give me feelings of security and control, but the capacity to break out of them every so often as I travel has given me a second wind. Daniel Tammet feelings wind giving I did have a very restricted, regimented life. There was a kind of happiness there, a contentment, but it was a small happiness within very clear and delineated borders. Daniel Tammet contentment borders kind Fischer, the great American chess champion, famously said, 'Chess is life.' I would say, 'Pi is life.' Daniel Tammet great-american champion chess I feel traveling certainly does broaden the mind. In my case certainly I feel more confident. It gives you a new perspective on the world. Daniel Tammet perspective mind giving I love books so much. I've read more books than anyone else I know. Daniel Tammet knows book I love music. I have a fondness for Chopin, and I very much like his 'Raindrop Prelude.' Daniel Tammet raindrops i-love-music music-love I'm not sure I'm the only savant with high IQ or with an above average IQ. Again, it may just be that we don't know very many of the others. Daniel Tammet not-sure may average It was hard for me to find my voice because I was, for so long, absorbed in my own world. Daniel Tammet voice long world Often autism is portrayed in the media as a very negative condition, as something that prevents somebody from communicating or from socializing or from being able to have any kind of normal, happy life. Daniel Tammet autism media happy-life My mother is not a model. She is not perfect. That awareness is part of learning to love someone. Predicting the actions of someone is an act of love. We persist, even when we get it wrong. That's the beauty of love. Daniel Tammet mother perfect action There is no such thing as an average person. They really are guidelines for people to grapple with the unknown, and we can always surprise expectations. Daniel Tammet expectations average people
