--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A Puritan twist in our nature makes us…" description: "\"“A Puritan twist in our nature makes us think that anything good for us must be twice as good if it's hard to swallow. Learning Greek and Latin used to..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/623/ellen-kaplan-235533_design_a-puritan-twist-in-our-nature-makes-us-t_2748156.jpg" --- # A Puritan twist in our nature makes us think that anything… ![“A Puritan twist in our nature makes us think that anything good for us must be twice as good if it's hard to swallow. Learning Greek and Latin used to play the role of character builder, since they were considered to be as exhausting and unrewarding as digging a trench in the morning and filling…” quote by Ellen Kaplan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/623/ellen-kaplan-235533_design_a-puritan-twist-in-our-nature-makes-us-t_2748156.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/623/ellen-kaplan-235533_design_a-puritan-twist-in-our-nature-makes-us-t_2748156.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/623/ellen-kaplan-235533_design_a-puritan-twist-in-our-nature-makes-us-t_2748156.jpg) > ““A Puritan twist in our nature makes us think that anything good for us must be twice as good if it's hard to swallow. Learning Greek and Latin used to play the role of character builder, since they were considered to be as exhausting and unrewarding as digging a trench in the morning and filling it up in the afternoon. It was what made a man, or a woman -- or more likely a robot -- of you. Now math serves that purpose in many schools: your task is to try to follow rules that make sense, perhaps, to some higher beings; and in the end to accept your failure with humbled pride. As you limp off with your aching mind and bruised soul, you know that nothing in later life will ever be as difficult. What a perverse fate for one of our kind's greatest triumphs! Think how absurd it would be were music treated this way (for math and music are both excursions into sensuous structure): suffer through playing your scales, and when you're an adult you'll never have to listen to music again. And this is mathematics we're talking about, the language in which, Galileo said, the Book of the World is written. This is mathematics, which reaches down into our deepest intuitions and outward toward the nature of the universe -- mathematics, which explains the atoms as well as the stars in their courses, and lets us see into the ways that rivers and arteries branch. For mathematics itself is the study of connections: how things ideally must and, in fact, do sort together -- beyond, around, and within us. It doesn't just help us to balance our checkbooks; it leads us to see the balances hidden in the tumble of events, and the shapes of those quiet symmetries behind the random clatter of things. At the same time, we come to savor it, like music, wholly for itself. Applied or pure, mathematics gives whoever enjoys it a matchless self-confidence, along with a sense of partaking in truths that follow neither from persuasion nor faith but stand foursquare on their own. This is why it appeals to what we will come back to again and again: our \*\*architectural instinct\*\* -- as deep in us as any of our urges.”” [Ellen Kaplan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-kaplan/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Mathematics is a universal language connecting nature, art, and intuition; it builds confidence and reveals hidden patterns **In simple terms:** Math links the cosmos, music, and everyday life, fostering insight and confidence Key Takeaway Explore math as a bridge between science and art Themes education inspiration math nature science Mood inspired thoughtful Type Design:1 Education:1 Inspirational:1 Math:1 Math and music:1 Mathematics:1 Music:1 Nature:1 Science:1 Wonder:1 Music Mathematics:0 Math Music:0 Language Galileo:0 Mathematics Explains:0 Intuitions Outward:0 When to use this quote - teaching - personal study - interdisciplinary research Key Concepts mathematical connections beauty of patterns Questions to Reflect On - How does math inspire your creative pursuits? - What patterns have you noticed in nature that reflect mathematical principles? A Different Perspective Overemphasis on rote learning can stifle creativity ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Design](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/design/) [Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/) [Inspirational](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/inspirational/) [Intuitions Outward](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intuitions-outward-3078597/) [Language Galileo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/language-galileo-3078595/) [Math](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/math/) [Math and music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/math-and-music/) [Math Music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/math-music-1680938/) [Mathematics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mathematics/) [Mathematics Explains](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mathematics-explains-3078596/) [Music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music/) [Music Mathematics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music-mathematics-757008/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Wonder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wonder/) ## Related quotes > [Math and music are intimately related. Not necessarily on a conscious level, but sure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-sondheim/math-and-music-are-intimately-related-not-necessarily-on-a-conscious/) [Stephen Sondheim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-sondheim/) > [A surprising proportion of mathematicians are accomplished musicians. Is it because music and mathematics share patterns that are beautiful?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-gardner/a-surprising-proportion-of-mathematicians-are-accomplished-musicians/) [Martin Gardner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-gardner/) > [Music is math; music is spiritual.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bokeem-woodbine/music-is-math-music-is-spiritual/) [Bokeem Woodbine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bokeem-woodbine/) > [Comedy is math, music is math, and editing is, so I think those all work together.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/randy-rainbow/comedy-is-math-music-is-math-and-editing-is-so-i-think-those-all-work/) [Randy Rainbow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/randy-rainbow/) > [ Besides language and music, it \[mathematics\] is one of the primary manifestations of the free creative power of the human mind, and it is… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-weyl/besides-language-and-music-it-mathematics-is-one-of-the-primary/) [Hermann Weyl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-weyl/) > [“Music is what mathematics does on a Satruday night.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-sorkin/music-is-what-mathematics-does-on-a-satruday-night/) [Aaron Sorkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-sorkin/) > [Music is what mathematics does on a Saturday night.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aaron-sorkin/music-is-what-mathematics-does-on-a-saturday-night/) [Aaron Sorkin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aaron-sorkin/) > [Besides language and music, mathematics is one of the primary manifestations of the free creative power of the human mind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-weyl/besides-language-and-music-mathematics-is-one-of-the-primary/) [Hermann Weyl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-weyl/) > [Music is mathematics, the mathematics of listening, mathematics for the ears.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karlheinz-stockhausen/music-is-mathematics-the-mathematics-of-listening-mathematics-for-the/) [Karlheinz Stockhausen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karlheinz-stockhausen/) > [There are a lot of very strong connections with music and mathematics. They both can work in patterns and sequences and repetitions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kate-bush/there-are-a-lot-of-very-strong-connections-with-music-and-mathematics/) [Kate Bush](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kate-bush/) > [A lot of music is mathematics. It's balance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mel-brooks/a-lot-of-music-is-mathematics-it-s-balance/) [Mel Brooks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mel-brooks/) > [But however measurable, there is much more life in music than mathematics or logic ever dreamed of.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriel-marcel/but-however-measurable-there-is-much-more-life-in-music-than/) [Gabriel Marcel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabriel-marcel/) > [Studying music encourages self-discipline and diligence, traits that carry over into intellectual pursuits and that lead to effective study and work habits. An association…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-e-debakey/studying-music-encourages-self-discipline-and-diligence-traits-that/) [Michael E. DeBakey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-e-debakey/) > [Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty-a beauty cold and austere ... yet sublimely pure and capable of stern perfection such…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bertrand-russell/mathematics-rightly-viewed-possesses-not-only-truth-but-supreme/) [Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bertrand-russell/) > [It seems to me now that mathematics is capable of an artistic excellence as great as that of any music, perhaps greater; not because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bertrand-russell/it-seems-to-me-now-that-mathematics-is-capable-of-an-artistic/) [Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bertrand-russell/) ## More Design quotes > [That's the great secret of creativity. You treat ideas like cats: you make them follow you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ray-bradbury/that-s-the-great-secret-of-creativity-you-treat-ideas-like-cats-you/) [Ray Bradbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ray-bradbury/) > [Plenty of white space and generous line spacing,and don't make the type size too miserly. Then you will be assured of a product fit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giambattista-bodoni/plenty-of-white-space-and-generous-line-spacing-and-don-t-make-the/) [Giambattista Bodoni](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giambattista-bodoni/) > [Designers shouldn’t design for museums any more than mummies should die for them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-caplan/designers-shouldn-t-design-for-museums-any-more-than-mummies-should/) [Ralph Caplan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-caplan/) > [The market may never coalesce around one basic design, or even around two or three dominant devices.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-peters/the-market-may-never-coalesce-around-one-basic-design-or-even-around/) [Tom Peters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-peters/) > [The display is the computer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jen-hsun-huang/the-display-is-the-computer/) [Jen-Hsun Huang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jen-hsun-huang/) > [Design is not making beauty, beauty emerges from selection, affinities, integration, love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louis-kahn/design-is-not-making-beauty-beauty-emerges-from-selection-affinities/) [Louis Kahn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louis-kahn/) > [The beauty of New York is unintentional; it arose independent of human design, like a stalagmite cavern.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/milan-kundera/the-beauty-of-new-york-is-unintentional-it-arose-independent-of-human/) [Milan Kundera](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/milan-kundera/) > [Like many other scientists who hold the Catholic faith, I see the Creator's plan and purpose fulfilled in our universe. I see a planet…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenneth-r-miller/like-many-other-scientists-who-hold-the-catholic-faith-i-see-the/) [Kenneth R. Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenneth-r-miller/) > [I design some of my own clothes now.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kiernan-shipka/i-design-some-of-my-own-clothes-now/) [Kiernan Shipka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kiernan-shipka/) > [Programmers are always surrounded by complexity; we cannot avoid it… If our basic tool, the language in which we design and code our programs,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-hoare/programmers-are-always-surrounded-by-complexity-we-cannot-avoid-it-if/) [Tony Hoare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-hoare/) > [Design is a very personal thing. It's like art. Your personal choice plays a big role.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gauri-khan/design-is-a-very-personal-thing-it-s-like-art-your-personal-choice/) [Gauri Khan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gauri-khan/) > [“Designing posters, for me, is not only a commercial pursuit but also a philosophical endeavor.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fang-chen/designing-posters-for-me-is-not-only-a-commercial-pursuit-but-also-a/) [Fang Chen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fang-chen/) > [I am not a great believer in dialectical struggle. I am much more of a fusion person. I see it as a dialogue, or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marina-warner/i-am-not-a-great-believer-in-dialectical-struggle-i-am-much-more-of-a/) [Marina Warner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marina-warner/) > [Users are not designers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jakob-nielsen/users-are-not-designers/) [Jakob Nielsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jakob-nielsen/) > [I write the way you might arrange flowers. Not every try works, but each one launches another. Every constraint, even dullness, frees up a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-powers/i-write-the-way-you-might-arrange-flowers-not-every-try-works-but/) [Richard Powers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-powers/) [Browse all 5,563 Design quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/design/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“A Puritan twist in our nature makes us think that anything good for us must be twice as good if it's hard to swallow. Learning Greek and Latin used to play the role of character builder, since they were considered to be as exhausting and unrewarding as digging a trench in the morning and filling it up in the afternoon. It was what made a man, or a woman -- or more likely a robot -- of you. Now math serves that purpose in many schools: your task is to try to follow rules that make sense, perhaps, to some higher beings; and in the end to accept your failure with humbled pride. As you limp off with your aching mind and bruised soul, you know that nothing in later life will ever be as difficult. What a perverse fate for one of our kind's greatest triumphs! Think how absurd it would be were music treated this way (for math and music are both excursions into sensuous structure): suffer through playing your scales, and when you're an adult you'll never have to listen to music again. And this is mathematics we're talking about, the language in which, Galileo said, the Book of the World is written. This is mathematics, which reaches down into our deepest intuitions and outward toward the nature of the universe -- mathematics, which explains the atoms as well as the stars in their courses, and lets us see into the ways that rivers and arteries branch. For mathematics itself is the study of connections: how things ideally must and, in fact, do sort together -- beyond, around, and within us. It doesn't just help us to balance our checkbooks; it leads us to see the balances hidden in the tumble of events, and the shapes of those quiet symmetries behind the random clatter of things. At the same time, we come to savor it, like music, wholly for itself. Applied or pure, mathematics gives whoever enjoys it a matchless self-confidence, along with a sense of partaking in truths that follow neither from persuasion nor faith but stand foursquare on their own. 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