Abstract Quote by Charles Babbage
“In mathematical science, more than in all others, it happens that truths which are at one period the most abstract, and apparently the most remote from all useful application, become in the next age the bases of profound physical inquiries, and in the succeeding one, perhaps, by proper simplification and reduction to tables, furnish their ready and daily aid to the artist and the sailor.”
About This Quote
Source Book: The Difference Engine, 1842
Abstract ideas may seem useless now but later become essential tools for everyday work.
In simple terms: Complex theories can become practical later.
Key Takeaway
Value abstract research for future applications.
Themes
science
progress
abstraction
Mood
thoughtful
optimistic
Type
philosophical
inspirational
When to use this quote
- education
- R&D
- policy making
Key Concepts
theory to practice
technological evolution
Questions to Reflect On
- Which current abstract ideas could become vital soon?
- How to balance funding between theory and application?
A Different Perspective
May overstate the speed of practical adoption.
![“In the future, as in the past, the great ideas [of mathematics] must be simplifying ideas, the creator must always be one who clarifies, for himself, and for others, the most complicated issues of formulas and concepts.” quote by Andre Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/521/andre-weil-47736_complicated_in-the-future-as-in-the-past-the-great-i_1195472.jpg)
![“Science in England is not a profession: its cultivators are scarcely recognised even as a class. Our language itself contains no single term by which their occupation can be expressed. We borrow a foreign word [Savant] from another country whose high ambition it is to advance science, and whose…” quote by Charles Babbage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/b12/charles-babbage-8461_accord_science-in-england-is-not-a-profession-i_256777.jpg)
