Skip to content

I conceived, developed and applied in many areas a new geometry of nature, which finds order in chaotic shapes and processes. It grew without a name until 1975, when I coined a new word to denote it, fractal geometry, from the Latin word for irregular and broken up, fractus. Today you might say that, until fractal geometry became organized, my life had followed a fractal orbit.

— Benoît Mandelbrot Encyclopedia of World Biography (1997)

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.