Skip to content

The introduction of numbers as coordinates by reference to the particular division scheme of the open one dimensional continuum is an act of violence whose only practical vindication is the special calculatory manageability of the ordinary number continuum with its four basic operations. The topological skeleton determines the connectivity of the manifold in the large.

— Hermann Weyl Philosophy of Mathematics and Natural Science (1949)

Another quote →

More quotes by Hermann Weyl

In these days the angel of topology and the devil of abstract algebra fight for the soul of each individual mathematical domain.

Hermann. Invariants. Duke Math. J. 5 (1939)

Symmetry is a vast subject, significant in art and nature. Mathematics lies at its root, and it would be hard to find a better one on which to demonstrate the working of the mathematical intellect.

Symmetry (1952)

Time is the primitive form of the stream of consciousness.

Space—Time—Matter (1952)

It is in the composite idea of motion that these three fundamental conceptions enter into intimate relationship.

Space—Time—Matter (1952)

Mathematics is the science of the infinite, its goal the symbolic comprehension of the infinite with human, that is finite, means.

The Open World: Three Lectures on the Metaphysical Implications of Science (1932)

All Hermann Weyl quotes →

Attribution

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