"Knowing what is big and what is small is more important than being able to solve partial differential equations."
— Stanislaw Ulam (1909-1984)
"Whatever is worth saying, can be stated in fifty words or less."
— Stanislaw Ulam (1909-1984)
"The mathematicians know a great deal about very little and the physicists very little about a great deal."
— Stanislaw Ulam (1909-1984)
"It is not so much whether a theorem is useful that matters, but how elegant it is."
— Stanislaw Ulam (1909-1984)
"In many cases, mathematics is an escape from reality. The mathematician finds his own monastic niche and happiness in pursuits that are disconnected from external affairs. Some practice it as if using a drug."
— Stanislaw Ulam (1909-1984)
"... there's nothing new under the sun - everything can be traced back to Archimedes or even earlier."
— Stanislaw Ulam (1909-1984)
"What exactly is mathematics? Many have tried but nobody has really succeeded in defining mathematics; it is always something else.”
— Stanislaw Ulam (1909-1984)
“The infinite we shall do right away. The finite may take a little longer.”
— Stanislaw Ulam (1909-1984)
“Mathematics is an escape from reality.”
— Stanislaw Ulam (1909-1984)
"Name me one proposition in all of the social sciences which is both true and non-trivial."
— Stanislaw Ulam (1909-1984)