Benjamin Peirce Quotes

{Before the time of Benjamin Peirce it never occurred to anyone that mathematical research} was one of the things for which a mathematical department existed. Today it is a commonplace in all the leading universities. Peirce stood alone - a mountain peak whose absolute height might be hard to measure, but which towered above all the surrounding country. ~ Julian Coolidge

[Benjamin Peirce's] lectures were not easy to follow. They were never carefully prepared. The work with which he rapidly covered the blackboard was very illegible, marred with frequent erasures, and not infrequent mistakes (he worked too fast for accuracy). He was always ready to digress from the straight path and explore some sidetrack that had suddenly attracted his attention, but which was likely to have led nowhere when the college bell announced the close of the hour and we filed out, leaving him abstractedly staring at his work, still with chalk and eraser in his hands, entirely oblivious of his departing class. ~ William Elwood Byerly

Gentlemen, that is surely true, it is absolutely paradoxical; we cannot understand it, and we don't know what it means. But we have proved it, and therefore we know it is the truth. ~ Benjamin Peirce

I presume that to the uninitiated the formulae will appear cold and cheerless; but let it be remembered that, like other mathematical formulae, they find their origin in the divine source of all geometry. Whether I shall have the satisfaction of taking part in their exposition, or whether that will remain for some more profound expositor, will be seen in the future. ~ Benjamin Peirce

Mathematics is the science which draws necessary conclusions. ~ Benjamin Peirce

Gentlemen, as we study the universe we see everywhere the most tremendous manifestations of force. In our own experience we know of but one source of force, namely will. How then can we help regarding the forces we see in nature as due to the will of some omnipresent, omnipotent being? Gentlemen, there must be a GOD. ~ Benjamin Peirce

What is man? ... What a strange union of matter and mind! A machine for converting material into spiritual force. ~ Benjamin Peirce

The appearance of Professor Benjamin Peirce, whose long gray hair, straggling grizzled beard and unusually bright eyes sparkling under a soft felt hat, as he walked briskly but rather ungracefully across the college yard, fitted very well with the opinion current among us that we were looking upon a real live genius, who had a touch of the prophet in his make-up. ~ William Elwood Byerly

There are many cases of these algebras which may obviously be combined into natural classes, but the consideration of this portion of the subject will be reserved to subsequent researches. ~ Benjamin Peirce

The best way to become acquainted with a subject is to write about it. ~ Benjamin Disraeli

I'm oftentimes called away from my family ... it's rather hard for me to be away from them. We're very close. ~ Benjamin Bratt

The next thing most like living one's life over again seems to be a recollection of that life, and to make that recollection as durable as possible by putting it down in writing. ~ Benjamin Franklin

If the world powers are not prepared to insist that Iran change its behavior before a deal is signed, they should at the very least be prepared to insist that Iran changes its behavior before the deal expires. ~ Benjamin Netanyahu

In the matter of the maintenance and rearing of children the Anarchists would neither institute the communistic nursery which the State Socialists favor nor keep the communistic school system which now prevails. ~ Benjamin Tucker

The difference between a person who appreciates books, even loves them, and a collector is not only degrees of affection, I realized. For the former, the bookshelf is a kind of memoir; there are my childhood books, my college books, my favorite novels, my inexplicable choices. Many matchmaking and social networking websites offer a place for members to list what they're reading for just this reason: books can reveal a lot about a person. This is particularly true of the collector, for whom the bookshelf is a reflection not just of what he has read but profoundly of who he is: 'Ownership is the most intimate relationship that one can have to objects. Not that they can come alive in him; it is he who comes alive in them,' wrote cultural critic Walter Benjamin. ~ Allison Hoover Bartlett

You may give give a man office, but you cannot give him discretion ~ Benjamin Franklin

Sincere. You are. You take the world home with you every night. ~ Benjamin Alire Saenz

When men are young, they want experience and when they have gained experience, they want energy. ~ Benjamin Disraeli

More truly characteristic of dissent is a dignity, an elevation, of mood and thought and phrase. Deep conviction and warm feeling are saying their last say with knowledge that the cause is lost. The voice of the majority may be that of force triumphant, content with the plaudits of the hour, and recking little of the morrow. The dissenter speaks to the future, and his voice is pitched to a key that will carry through the years. ~ Benjamin Cardozo

Truth is brighter than light. ~ Benjamin Franklin

Mr. Benjamin shrugged his shoulders. "We have to live today," he said. "If you had a son, Harkavy, you'd want him to have a college education. Who's going to wait for the Messiah? They tell a story about a little town in the old country. It was out of the way, in a valley, so the Jews were afraid the Messiah would come and miss them, and they built a high tower and hired one of the town beggars to sit in it all day long. A friend of his meets this beggar and says, 'How do you like your job, Baruch?' So he says, 'It doesn't pay much, but I think it's steady work. ~ Saul Bellow

Look at their eyes. If their eyes are shining, you know youre doing it. ~ Benjamin Zander

I also enjoyed praying at night for forgiveness, secure in the knowledge I'd not really done anything in need of forgiving. ~ Melanie Benjamin

Why did I have to be a good boy just because I had a bad-boy brother? I hated the way my mom and dad did family math. ~ Benjamin Alire Saenz

Stop thinking of failing. ~ Benjamin Carson

After a good roll in the hay, when he's all peaceful and serene and he hasn't a worry or a care in the world, and the euphoric calm of release is drifting through his cerebrum, that's when you broadside him with the cold cruel fact that his life as he knows it is over! ~ Benjamin R. Smith

Inspired To Be The Best ~ Benjamin Greene

To force a man to pay for the violation of his own liberty is indeed an addition of insult to injury. ~ Benjamin Tucker

I like it when cities are melancholic. When it started snowing for example, I felt very lonely. I felt very comfortable and very relaxed. When that happens, I write. So I've been writing, not a lot, but I'm inspired everyday. ~ Benjamin Clementine

They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
- written for the Pennsylvania Assembly in its Reply to the Governor, 11 November 1755 ~ Benjamin Franklin

My refusing to eat flesh occasioned an inconveniency, and I was frequently chided for my singularity, but, with this lighter repast, I made the greater progress, for greater clearness of head and quicker comprehension. Flesh eating is unprovoked murder. ~ Benjamin Franklin

Stubborn people make the best lovers. You tell them no, they say yes, you tell them get lost, they hang around, you get a restraining order, they get a megaphone...Eventually you have to kill them or marry them. ~ Benjamin Smith

There's a huge difference for taking responsibility for one's actions, and taking credit, and in this scenario I think we need to give credit where credit is due. I won't take responsibility for my teacher's drinking problem, but I will take credit for it. ~ Benjamin Tomes

The shortest way to change a radical into a conservative, a liberal into a tyrant, a man into a beast, is to give him power over his fellows. ~ Benjamin Tucker

She that paints her Face, thinks of her Tail. ~ Benjamin Franklin

I often tell people I don't care whether they join the NAACP or some other group, but you better join something. ~ Benjamin Todd Jealous

The good particular men may do separately, in relieving the sick, is small, compared with what they may do collectively. ~ Benjamin Franklin

Wisdom, Happiness, and Courage are not waiting somewhere out beyond sight at the end of a straight line; they're part of a continuous cycle that begins right here. They're not only the ending, but the beginning as well. ~ Benjamin Hoff

Fear is prophetical of evil. ~ Benjamin Whichcote

The prophet and the martyr do not see the hooting throng. Their eyes are fixed on the eternities. ~ Benjamin Cardozo