— Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky Russian mathematician of Ukrainian origin 1792 - 1856
As quoted in George Edward Martin, The Foundations of Geometry and the Non-Euclidean Plane, Springer (1998 [1975]), p. 225; also in Stanley Gudder, A Mathematical Journey, McGraw-Hill (1976), p. 36.
— Josef Albers German-American artist and educator 1888 - 1976
Quoted in: Arts/Canada, Vol. 23 (1966), p. 46
— Richard Feynman American theoretical physicist 1918 - 1988
Context: The real problem in speech is not precise language. The problem is clear language. The desire is to have the idea clearly communicated to the other person. It is only necessary to be precise when there is some doubt as to the meaning of a phrase, and then the precision should be put in the place where the doubt exists. It is really quite impossible to say anything with absolute precision, unless that thing is so abstracted from the real world as to not represent any real thing.Pure mathematics is just such an abstraction from the real world, and pure mathematics does have a special precise language for dealing with its own special and technical subjects. But this precise language is not precise in any sense if you deal with real objects of the world, and it is only pedantic and quite confusing to use it unless there are some special subtleties which have to be carefully distinguished.
" New Textbooks for the "New" Mathematics http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/2362/1/feynman.pdf", Engineering and Science volume 28, number 6 (March 1965) p. 9-15 at p. 14
Paraphrased as "Precise language is not the problem. Clear language is the problem."
— G. H. Hardy British mathematician 1877 - 1947
— Theo van Doesburg Dutch architect, painter, draughtsman and writer 1883 - 1931
Quote from Van Doesburg's article 'Elementarism as real art', in: 'Painting and plastic art' - Rome, July 1926, in De Stijl', series XIII, 1 75-6, 1926, pp. 35–43
— Joseph B. Soloveitchik American theologian 1903 - 1993
p. 83
— Bertrand Russell logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist 1872 - 1970
Ch. 16: Descriptions
— Hermann Grassmann German polymath, linguist and mathematician 1809 - 1877
Forward, as quoted by Mario Livio, Is God a Mathematician? (2009)
— Alexander Stepanov Russian programmer 1950
— Barnett Newman American artist 1905 - 1970
p. 127
— Herbert A. Simon American political scientist, economist, sociologist, and psychologist 1916 - 2001
p. 302.
— Richard Feynman American theoretical physicist 1918 - 1988
chapter 2, “The Relation of Mathematics to Physics,” p. 58
— Rudy Rucker American mathematician, computer scientist, science fiction author and philosopher 1946
p. 133-134
— Paul Klee German Swiss painter 1879 - 1940
Diary entry (1912), # 922; as quoted by Francesco Mazzaferro, in 'The Diaries of Paul Klee Part Four', : Klee as an Expressionist and Constructivist Painter http://letteraturaartistica.blogspot.nl/2015/05/paul-klee-ev27.html
— Wassily Kandinsky Russian painter 1866 - 1944
In: On the Spiritual in Art, 1911; as quoted in Schönberg and Kandinsky: An Historic Encounter, by Klaus Kropfinger; edited by Konrad Boehmer; published by Routledge (imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informal company), 2003, p. 15
