G. H. Hardy
G. H. Hardy
Godfrey Harold "G. H." Hardy FRS was an English mathematician, known for his achievements in number theory and mathematical analysis...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionMathematician
Date of Birth7 February 1877
chiefly define difficult english-novelist express feelings language men woman
It is difficult for a woman to define her feelings in a language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs.
men serious-man creative
The creative life [is] the only one for a serious man.
science men two
A man who sets out to justify his existence and his activities has to distinguish two different questions. The first is whether the work which he does is worth doing; and the second is why he does it (whatever its value may be).
knowledge science men
It is rather astonishing how little practical value scientific knowledge has for ordinary men, how dull and commonplace such of it as has value is, and how its value seems almost to vary inversely to its reputed utility.
character men done
What we do may be small, but it has a certain character of permanence; and to have produced anything of the slightest permanent interest, whether it be a copy of verses or a geometrical theorem, is to have done something utterly beyond the powers of the vast majority of men.
past men fifty
I do not know an instance of a major mathematical advance initiated by a man past fifty
art men games
No mathematician should ever allow himself to forget that mathematics, more than any other art or science, is a young man's game
men profound he-man
There is no scorn more profound, or on the whole more justifiable, than that of the men who make for the men who explain.
humble men done
Good work is not done by 'humble' men
book writing men
Young men should prove theorems, old men should write books.
art past men
No mathematician should ever allow him to forget that mathematics, more than any other art or science, is a young man's game. ... Galois died at twenty-one, Abel at twenty-seven, Ramanujan at thirty-three, Riemann at forty. There have been men who have done great work later; ... [but] I do not know of a single instance of a major mathematical advance initiated by a man past fifty. ... A mathematician may still be competent enough at sixty, but it is useless to expect him to have original ideas.
art science men
A science or an art may be said to be "useful" if its development increases, even indirectly, the material well-being and comfort of men, it promotes happiness, using that word in a crude and commonplace way.
sacrifice men order
Perhaps five or even ten per cent of men can do something rather well. It is a tiny minority who can do anything really well, and the number of men who can do two things well is negligible. If a man has any genuine talent, he should be ready to make almost any sacrifice in order to cultivate it to the full.
knowledge intelligent men
It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority. By definition, there are already enough people to do that.