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Quote#Science & Reason

The study of mathematics is apt to commence in disappointment... We…

Quote byAlfred North Whitehead · 1861–1947

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: An Introduction to Mathematics (1911), ch. 1..

English (original)

The study of mathematics is apt to commence in disappointment... We are told that by its aid the stars are weighed and the billions of molecules in a drop of water are counted. Yet, like the ghost of Hamlet's father, this great science eludes the efforts of our mental weapons to grasp it.

— Alfred North Whitehead

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