Piet Hein Quotes

1905–1996 Denmark

Piet Hein (16 December 1905 – 18 April 1996) was a Danish mathematician, scientist, inventor, and poet. He often wrote using the pseudonym Kumbel (Old Norse for "tombstone").

Denmark
Mathematicians
Poets

Random Piet Hein quote

36 quotes

Man is the animal that draws lines which he himself then stumbles over.

Scandinavian Review (2003)

Art is this: art is the solution of a problem which cannot be expressed explicitly until it is solved.

Man Creates Art Creates Man (1973)

But we are in a straitjacket, having to accept one or the other, when often some intermediate form would be better.

Scandinavian Review (2003)

Art is the creative process and it goes through all fields.

Man Creates Art Creates Man (1973)

Naive you are
if you believe
life favours those
who aren't naive.

Men, said the Devil,
are good to their brothers:
they don’t want to mend
their own ways, but each other's.

The human spirit sublimates
the impulses it thwarts;
a healthy sex life mitigates
the lust for other sports.

Art is solving problems that cannot be formulated before they have been solved. The shaping of the question is part of the answer.

Experts have
their expert fun
ex cathedra
telling one
just how nothing
can be done.

True wisdom knows
it must comprise
some nonsense
as a compromise,
lest fools should fail
to find it wise.

Shun advice
at any price -
that's what I call
good advice.

Wisdom is
the booby prize
given when you've been
unwise.

Those who always
know what’s best
are
a universal pest.

Living is
a thing you do
now or never —
which do you?

Love is like
a pineapple,
sweet and
undefinable.

We shall have to evolve
problem-solvers galore —
since each problem they solve
creates ten problems more.

There is
one art,
no more,
no less:
to do
all things
with art-
lessness.

Idiots are really
one hundred per cent
when they are also
intelligent.

Problems worthy
of attack
prove their worth
by hitting back.

As eternity
is reckoned
there's a lifetime
in a second.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Piet Hein (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.