--- title: "4 Complexity Quotes By Benoit Mandelbrot" description: "4 Complexity quotes by Benoit Mandelbrot. Plus more from Benoit Mandelbrot and more Complexity sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/613/benoit-mandelbrot-7685_complexity_a-formula-can-be-very-simple-and-create_1121626.jpg" --- > [A formula can be very simple, and create a universe of bottomless complexity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benoit-mandelbrot/a-formula-can-be-very-simple-and-create-a-universe-of-bottomless/) [Benoit Mandelbrot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benoit-mandelbrot/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/613/benoit-mandelbrot-7685_complexity_a-formula-can-be-very-simple-and-create_1121626.jpg) > [Why is geometry often described as cold and dry? One reason lies in its inability to describe the shape of a cloud,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benoit-mandelbrot/why-is-geometry-often-described-as-cold-and-dry-one-reason-lies-in/) [Benoit Mandelbrot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benoit-mandelbrot/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8e8/benoit-mandelbrot-7685_bark_why-is-geometry-often-described-as-cold_2556306.jpg) > [Why is geometry often described as 'cold' and 'dry?' One reason lies in its inability to describe the shape of a cloud,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benoit-mandelbrot/why-is-geometry-often-described-as-cold-and-dry-one-reason-lies-in-2/) [Benoit Mandelbrot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benoit-mandelbrot/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/be9/benoit-mandelbrot-7685_bark_why-is-geometry-often-described-as-cold_2966568.jpg) > [I claim that many patterns of Nature are so irregular and fragmented, that, compared with Euclid-a term used in this work to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benoit-mandelbrot/i-claim-that-many-patterns-of-nature-are-so-irregular-and-fragmented/) [Benoit Mandelbrot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benoit-mandelbrot/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/281/benoit-mandelbrot-7685_challenges_i-claim-that-many-patterns-of-nature-are_3098550.jpg) ## Other authors on Complexity - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b020/author-richard-dawkins-78503.jpg) Richard Dawkins 8 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/complexity/richard-dawkins/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b017/author-mihaly-csikszentmihalyi-67867.jpg) Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi 8 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/complexity/mihaly-csikszentmihalyi/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b023/author-thomas-sowell-90605.jpg) Thomas Sowell 7 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/complexity/thomas-sowell/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b023/author-terence-mckenna-89395.jpg) Terence McKenna 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/complexity/terence-mckenna/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b022/author-stephen-jay-gould-87041.jpg) Stephen Jay Gould 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/complexity/stephen-jay-gould/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b015/author-kenneth-e-boulding-56467.jpg) Kenneth E. Boulding 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/complexity/kenneth-e-boulding/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b005/author-bill-gates-17911.jpg) Bill Gates 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/complexity/bill-gates/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b003/author-alain-de-botton-10218.jpg) Alain de Botton 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/complexity/alain-de-botton/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b016/author-malcolm-gladwell-62855.jpg) Malcolm Gladwell 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/complexity/malcolm-gladwell/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b008/author-douglas-adams-30413.jpg) Douglas Adams 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/complexity/douglas-adams/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b004/author-atul-gawande-15570.jpg) Atul Gawande 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/complexity/atul-gawande/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b003/author-adrienne-rich-9648.jpg) Adrienne Rich 5 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/complexity/adrienne-rich/) ## More by Benoit Mandelbrot > [Regular geometry, the geometry of Euclid, is concerned with shapes which are smooth, except perhaps for corners and lines, special lines which are singularities,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benoit-mandelbrot/regular-geometry-the-geometry-of-euclid-is-concerned-with-shapes/) [Benoit Mandelbrot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benoit-mandelbrot/) > [It was astonishing when at one point, I got the idea of how to make artifical clouds with a collaborator, we had pictures made…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benoit-mandelbrot/it-was-astonishing-when-at-one-point-i-got-the-idea-of-how-to-make/) [Benoit Mandelbrot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benoit-mandelbrot/) > [Pictures were completely eliminated from mathematics; in particular when I was young this happened in a very strong fashion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benoit-mandelbrot/pictures-were-completely-eliminated-from-mathematics-in-particular/) [Benoit Mandelbrot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benoit-mandelbrot/) > [In mathematics and science definition are simple, but bare-bones. Until you get to a problem which you understand it takes hundreds and hundreds of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benoit-mandelbrot/in-mathematics-and-science-definition-are-simple-but-bare-bones-until/) [Benoit Mandelbrot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benoit-mandelbrot/) > [One of the high points of my life was when I suddenly realized that this dream I had in my late adolescence of combining…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benoit-mandelbrot/one-of-the-high-points-of-my-life-was-when-i-suddenly-realized-that/) [Benoit Mandelbrot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benoit-mandelbrot/) > [My life has been extremely complicated. Not by choice at the beginning at all, but later on, I had become used to complication and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benoit-mandelbrot/my-life-has-been-extremely-complicated-not-by-choice-at-the-beginning/) [Benoit Mandelbrot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benoit-mandelbrot/) > [The extraordinary fact is that the first idea I had which motivated me, that worked, is conjecture, a mathematical idea which may or may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benoit-mandelbrot/the-extraordinary-fact-is-that-the-first-idea-i-had-which-motivated/) [Benoit Mandelbrot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benoit-mandelbrot/) > [Most economists, when modeling market behavior, tend to sweep major fluctuations under the rug and assume they are anomalies. What I have found is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benoit-mandelbrot/most-economists-when-modeling-market-behavior-tend-to-sweep-major/) [Benoit Mandelbrot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benoit-mandelbrot/) > [I don't seek power and do not run around](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benoit-mandelbrot/i-don-t-seek-power-and-do-not-run-around/) [Benoit Mandelbrot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benoit-mandelbrot/) > [I conceived and developed a new geometry of nature and implemented its use in a number of diverse fields. It describes many of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benoit-mandelbrot/i-conceived-and-developed-a-new-geometry-of-nature-and-implemented/) [Benoit Mandelbrot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benoit-mandelbrot/) > [If you look at a shape like a straight line, what's remarkable is that if you look at a straight line from close by,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benoit-mandelbrot/if-you-look-at-a-shape-like-a-straight-line-what-s-remarkable-is-that/) [Benoit Mandelbrot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benoit-mandelbrot/) > [When I first began studying prices, it wasn't a topic that mathematicians were working on. Purely by accident, I saw a set of data…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benoit-mandelbrot/when-i-first-began-studying-prices-it-wasn-t-a-topic-that/) [Benoit Mandelbrot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benoit-mandelbrot/) > [The rare scholars who are nomads-by-choice are essential to the intellectual welfare of the settled disciplines.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benoit-mandelbrot/the-rare-scholars-who-are-nomads-by-choice-are-essential-to-the/) [Benoit Mandelbrot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benoit-mandelbrot/) > [Science would be ruined if (like sports) it were to put competition above everything else, and if it were to clarify the rules of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benoit-mandelbrot/science-would-be-ruined-if-like-sports-it-were-to-put-competition/) [Benoit Mandelbrot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benoit-mandelbrot/) > [Many painters had a clear idea of what fractals are. Take a French classic painter named Poussin. Now, he painted beautiful landscapes, completely artificial…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benoit-mandelbrot/many-painters-had-a-clear-idea-of-what-fractals-are-take-a-french/) [Benoit Mandelbrot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benoit-mandelbrot/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/complexity/benoit-mandelbrot/#itemlist", "name": "4 Complexity Quotes By Benoit Mandelbrot", "numberOfItems": 4, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "A formula can be very simple, and create a universe of bottomless complexity.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Benoit Mandelbrot" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benoit-mandelbrot/a-formula-can-be-very-simple-and-create-a-universe-of-bottomless/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/613/benoit-mandelbrot-7685_complexity_a-formula-can-be-very-simple-and-create_1121626.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/613/benoit-mandelbrot-7685_complexity_a-formula-can-be-very-simple-and-create_1121626.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/613/benoit-mandelbrot-7685_complexity_a-formula-can-be-very-simple-and-create_1121626.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“A formula can be very simple, and create a universe of bottomless complexity.” — Benoit Mandelbrot", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Why is geometry often described as cold and dry? 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