Skip to content

Science would be ruined if (like sports) it were to put competition above everything else, and if it were to clarify the rules of competition by withdrawing entirely into narrowly defined specialties. The rare scholars who are nomads by choice are essential to the intellectual welfare of the subtle disciplines

— Benoît Mandelbrot Benoit Mandelbrot cited in James Gleick (1987)

Another quote →

More quotes by Benoît Mandelbrot

If you have a hammer, use it everywhere you can, but I do not claim that everything is fractal.

Unfortunately, the world has not been designed for the convenience of mathematicians.

The (Mis)Behavior of Markets (2004)

Fractal geometry is not just a chapter of mathematics, but one that helps Everyman to see the same world differently.

The Fractal Geometry of Nature (1982)

Engineering is too important to wait for science.

Contrary to popular opinion, mathematics is about simplifying life, not complicating it.

The (Mis)Behavior of Markets (2004)

All Benoît Mandelbrot quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Benoît Mandelbrot (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.