The Babylonian and Assyrian civilizations have perished; Hammurabi, Sargon and Nebuchadnezzar are empty names; yet Babylonian mathematics is still interesting, and the… — G. H. Hardy Copy Share Image
I do not remember having felt, as a boy, any passion for mathematics, and such notions as I may have had of… — G. H. Hardy Copy Share Image
The theory of numbers, more than any other branch of mathematics, began by being an experimental science. Its most famous theorems have… — G. H. Hardy Copy Share Image
A chess problem is genuine mathematics, but it is in some way "trivial" mathematics. However, ingenious and intricate, however original and surprising… — G. H. Hardy Copy Share Image
In these days of conflict between ancient and modern studies, there must surely be something to be said for a study which… — G. H. Hardy Copy Share Image
There is always more in one of Ramanujan's formulae than meets the eye, as anyone who sets to work to verify those… — G. H. Hardy Copy Share Image
Cricket is the only game where you are playing against eleven of the other side and ten of your own. — G. H. Hardy Copy Share Image
The "seriousness" of a mathematical theorem lies, not in its practical consequences, which are usually negligible, but in the significance of the mathematical ideas… — G. H. Hardy Copy Share Image
No discovery of mine has made, or is likely to make, directly or indirectly, for good or ill, the least difference to the amenity… — G. H. Hardy Copy Share Image
It is a melancholy experience for a professional mathematician to find himself writing about mathematics. The function of a mathematician is to do something,… — G. H. Hardy Copy Share Image
Beauty is the first test: there is no permanent place in the world for ugly mathematics. — G. H. Hardy Copy Share Image
They [formulae 1.10 - 1.12 of Ramanujan] must be true because, if they were not true, no one would have had the imagination to invent them. — G. H. Hardy Copy Share Image
When the world is mad, a mathematician may find in mathematics an incomparable anodyne. For mathematics is, of all the arts and sciences, the… — G. H. Hardy Copy Share Image
Asked if he believes in one G-d, a mathematician answered: "Yes, up to isomorphism". — G. H. Hardy Copy Share Image
No one should ever be bored. … One can be horrified, or disgusted, but one can’t be bored. — G. H. Hardy Copy Share Image
I propose to put forward an apology for mathematics; and I may be told that it needs none, since there are now few studies… — G. H. Hardy Copy Share Image
For my part, it is difficult for me to say what I owe to Ramanujan - his originality has been a constant source of… — G. H. Hardy Copy Share Image
A mathematician, like a painter or poet, is a maker of patterns. If his patterns are more permanent than theirs, it is because they… — G. H. Hardy Copy Share Image