--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Even stranger things have happened; and…" description: "\"Even stranger things have happened; and perhaps the strangest of all is the marvel that mathematics should be possible to a race akin to the apes.\" — E..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/724/eric-temple-bell-26465_apes_even-stranger-things-have-happened-and-p_540176.png" --- # Even stranger things have happened; and perhaps the… ![“Even stranger things have happened; and perhaps the strangest of all is the marvel that mathematics should be possible to a race akin to the apes.” quote by Eric Temple Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/724/eric-temple-bell-26465_apes_even-stranger-things-have-happened-and-p_540176.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/724/eric-temple-bell-26465_apes_even-stranger-things-have-happened-and-p_540176.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/724/eric-temple-bell-26465_apes_even-stranger-things-have-happened-and-p_540176.png) > “Even stranger things have happened; and perhaps the strangest of all is the marvel that mathematics should be possible to a race akin to the apes.” [Eric Temple Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-temple-bell/) ## 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 astonishingly accessible to humans despite our primitive nature. **In simple terms:** Math is a marvel for humans. Key Takeaway Embrace the wonder of mathematical thinking. Themes wonder human potential mathematics Mood curious inspired Type educational philosophical When to use this quote - education - research - public outreach Key Concepts cognition science philosophy Questions to Reflect On - Why is math surprising to you? - How can we make math more inclusive? A Different Perspective Complexity can be intimidating. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Apes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/apes/) [Funny mathematics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/funny-mathematics/) [Math](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/math/) [Math and love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/math-and-love/) [Math love](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/math-love/) [Mathematics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mathematics/) [Race](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/race/) [Stranger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stranger/) ## Related quotes > [Arithmetic is numbers you squeeze from your head to your hand to your pencil to your paper till you get the answer.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/arithmetic-is-numbers-you-squeeze-from-your-head-to-your-hand-to-your/) [Carl Sandburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/) > [It is not the job of mathematicians... to do correct arithmetical operations. It is the job of bank accountants.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuil-shatunovsky/it-is-not-the-job-of-mathematicians-to-do-correct-arithmetical/) Samuil Shatunovsky > [Arithmetic is where numbers fly like pigeons in and out of your head.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sandburg/arithmetic-is-where-numbers-fly-like-pigeons-in-and-out-of-your-head/) [Carl Sandburg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sandburg/) > [The cowboys have a way of trussing up a steer or a pugnacious bronco which fixes the brute so that it can neither move…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-bell/the-cowboys-have-a-way-of-trussing-up-a-steer-or-a-pugnacious-bronco/) Eric Bell > [Mathematics is as much an aspect of culture as it is a collection of algorithms.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-benjamin-boyer/mathematics-is-as-much-an-aspect-of-culture-as-it-is-a-collection-of/) Carl Benjamin Boyer > [If a man's wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics; for in demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/francis-bacon/if-a-man-s-wit-be-wandering-let-him-study-the-mathematics-for-in/) [Francis Bacon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/francis-bacon/) > [If equations are trains threading the landscape of numbers, then no train stops at pi.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-preston/if-equations-are-trains-threading-the-landscape-of-numbers-then-no/) [Richard Preston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-preston/) > [The mathematics are distinguished by a particular privilege, that is, in the course of ages, they may always advance and can never recede.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/the-mathematics-are-distinguished-by-a-particular-privilege-that-is/) [Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/) > [The pursuit of mathematics is a divine madness of the human spirit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-north-whitehead/the-pursuit-of-mathematics-is-a-divine-madness-of-the-human-spirit/) [Alfred North Whitehead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-north-whitehead/) > [It is possible that our race may be an accident, in a meaningless universe, living its brief life uncared for, on this dark, cooling…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-vaughan/it-is-possible-that-our-race-may-be-an-accident-in-a-meaningless-3/) [Bill Vaughan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-vaughan/) > [ \[It is possible\] that the race of red men ... will, before many generations, be remembered only as a strange, weird, dream-like specter, which… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-a-garfield/it-is-possible-that-the-race-of-red-men-will-before-many-generations/) [James A. Garfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-a-garfield/) > [To most outsiders, modern mathematics is unknown territory. Its borders are protected by dense thickets of technical terms; its landscapes are a mass of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivars-peterson/to-most-outsiders-modern-mathematics-is-unknown-territory-its-borders/) [Ivars Peterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivars-peterson/) > [Mathematics is the only good metaphysics.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lord-kelvin/mathematics-is-the-only-good-metaphysics/) [Lord Kelvin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lord-kelvin/) > [Few realize that the world of modern mathematics is rich with vivid images and provocative ideas.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ivars-peterson/few-realize-that-the-world-of-modern-mathematics-is-rich-with-vivid/) [Ivars Peterson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ivars-peterson/) > [Still more astonishing is that world of rigorous fantasy which we call mathematics.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-bateson/still-more-astonishing-is-that-world-of-rigorous-fantasy-which-we/) [Gregory Bateson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-bateson/) ## More by Eric Temple Bell > [The full impact of the Lobachevskian method of challenging axioms has probably yet to be felt. It is no exaggeration to call Lobachevsky the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-temple-bell/the-full-impact-of-the-lobachevskian-method-of-challenging-axioms-has/) [Eric Temple Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-temple-bell/) > [Wherever groups disclosed themselves, or could be introduced, simplicity crystallized out of comparative chaos.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-temple-bell/wherever-groups-disclosed-themselves-or-could-be-introduced/) [Eric Temple Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-temple-bell/) > [ \[As a young teenager\] Galois read \[Legendre's\] geometry from cover to cover as easily as other boys read a pirate yarn. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-temple-bell/as-a-young-teenager-galois-read-legendre-s-geometry-from-cover-to/) [Eric Temple Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-temple-bell/) > [ Poincaré \[was\] the last man to take practically all mathematics, pure and applied, as his province. ... Few mathematicians have had the breadth of… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-temple-bell/poincar-was-the-last-man-to-take-practically-all-mathematics-pure-and/) [Eric Temple Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-temple-bell/) > [The very basis of creative work is irreverence! The very basis of creative work is bold experimentation. There has never been a creator of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-temple-bell/the-very-basis-of-creative-work-is-irreverence-the-very-basis-of/) [Eric Temple Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-temple-bell/) > [If a lunatic scribbles a jumble of mathematical symbols it does not follow that the writing means anything merely because to the inexpert eye…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-temple-bell/if-a-lunatic-scribbles-a-jumble-of-mathematical-symbols-it-does-not/) [Eric Temple Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-temple-bell/) > [If "Number rules the universe" as Pythagoras asserted, Number is merely our delegate to the throne, for we rule Number.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-temple-bell/if-number-rules-the-universe-as-pythagoras-asserted-number-is-merely/) [Eric Temple Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-temple-bell/) > [Any impatient student of mathematics or science or engineering who is irked by having algebraic symbolism thrust upon him should try to get along…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-temple-bell/any-impatient-student-of-mathematics-or-science-or-engineering-who-is/) [Eric Temple Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-temple-bell/) > [Archimedes, Newton, and Gauss, these three, are in a class by themselves among the great mathematicians, and it is not for ordinary mortals to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-temple-bell/archimedes-newton-and-gauss-these-three-are-in-a-class-by-themselves/) [Eric Temple Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-temple-bell/) > [Had Poincaré been as strong in practical science as he was in theoretical he might have made a fourth with the incomparable three, Archimedes,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-temple-bell/had-poincar-been-as-strong-in-practical-science-as-he-was-in/) [Eric Temple Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-temple-bell/) > [Pick the assumptions to pieces till the stuff they are made of is exposed to plain view - this is the cardinal rule for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-temple-bell/pick-the-assumptions-to-pieces-till-the-stuff-they-are-made-of-is/) [Eric Temple Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-temple-bell/) > [A number of aspects of mathematics are not much talked about in contemporary histories of mathematics. We have in mind business and commerce, war,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-temple-bell/a-number-of-aspects-of-mathematics-are-not-much-talked-about-in/) [Eric Temple Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-temple-bell/) > [The only royal road to elementary geometry is ingenuity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-temple-bell/the-only-royal-road-to-elementary-geometry-is-ingenuity/) [Eric Temple Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-temple-bell/) > [The Handmaiden of the Sciences.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-temple-bell/the-handmaiden-of-the-sciences/) [Eric Temple Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-temple-bell/) > [“Strange as it may seem, not all of the great mathematicians have been professors in colleges or universities. Quite a few were soldiers by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-temple-bell/strange-as-it-may-seem-not-all-of-the-great-mathematicians-have-been/) [Eric Temple Bell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-temple-bell/) [Explore all 21 Eric Temple Bell quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-temple-bell/) ## More Apes quotes > [Television's perfect. You turn a few knobs, a few of those mechanical adjustments at which the higher apes are so proficient, and lean back…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/raymond-chandler/television-s-perfect-you-turn-a-few-knobs-a-few-of-those-mechanical/) [Raymond Chandler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/raymond-chandler/) > [Perhaps no order of mammals presents us with so extraordinary a series of gradations as this \[step by step, from humans to apes to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-huxley/perhaps-no-order-of-mammals-presents-us-with-so-extraordinary-a/) [Thomas Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-huxley/) > [As nature made every man with a nose and eyes of his own, she gave him a character of his own, too; and yet…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-makepeace-thackeray/as-nature-made-every-man-with-a-nose-and-eyes-of-his-own-she-gave-him/) [William Makepeace Thackeray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-makepeace-thackeray/) > [And the Devil did grin, for his darling sin is pride that apes humility.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-taylor-coleridge/and-the-devil-did-grin-for-his-darling-sin-is-pride-that-apes-humility/) [Samuel Taylor Coleridge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-taylor-coleridge/) > [Battle For The Planet Of The Apes', was just a film for kids and didn't have any deep meaning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-lee-thompson/battle-for-the-planet-of-the-apes-was-just-a-film-for-kids-and-didn-t/) J. Lee Thompson > [Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-adams/far-out-in-the-uncharted-backwaters-of-the-unfashionable-end-of-the/) [Douglas Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-adams/) > [“Civilization is only a pretense; in the crisis, we become mere apes again, forgetting the rational biped of our pretensions and becoming instead the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/orson-scott-card/civilization-is-only-a-pretense-in-the-crisis-we-become-mere-apes/) [Orson Scott Card](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/orson-scott-card/) > [The idea that war should be conducted within a moral framework may seem like a quaint medieval practice, but as speech separates humans from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-idea-that-war-should-be-conducted-within-a-moral-framework-may/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Is man an ape or an angel? Now I am on the side of the angels.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-disraeli/is-man-an-ape-or-an-angel-now-i-am-on-the-side-of-the-angels/) [Benjamin Disraeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-disraeli/) > [Mass ought to be in Latin, unless you could do it in Greek or Chinese. In fact, any abracadabra that no bloody member of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-pound/mass-ought-to-be-in-latin-unless-you-could-do-it-in-greek-or-chinese/) [Ezra Pound](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-pound/) > [I think the problem we have as apes is we're asking far bigger questions than we could possibly process.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlie-brooker/i-think-the-problem-we-have-as-apes-is-we-re-asking-far-bigger/) [Charlie Brooker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlie-brooker/) > [We admit that we are like apes, but we seldom realise that we are apes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-dawkins/we-admit-that-we-are-like-apes-but-we-seldom-realise-that-we-are-apes/) [Richard Dawkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-dawkins/) > [Lower your gaze because you become less of a human every time you stare at a woman and you stare at her like she's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nouman-ali-khan/lower-your-gaze-because-you-become-less-of-a-human-every-time-you/) [Nouman Ali Khan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nouman-ali-khan/) > [It was their individuality combined with the shyness of their behavior that remained the most captivating impression of this first encounter with the greatest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dian-fossey/it-was-their-individuality-combined-with-the-shyness-of-their/) [Dian Fossey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dian-fossey/) > [Apes had it worked out. No ape would philosophize, "The mountain is, and is not." They would think, "The banana is. I will eat…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-pratchett/apes-had-it-worked-out-no-ape-would-philosophize-the-mountain-is-and/) [Terry Pratchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-pratchett/) [Browse all 444 Apes quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/apes/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Even stranger things have happened; and perhaps the strangest of all is the marvel that mathematics should be possible to a race akin to the apes.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Eric Temple Bell" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-temple-bell/even-stranger-things-have-happened-and-perhaps-the-strangest-of-all/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Apes" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-temple-bell/even-stranger-things-have-happened-and-perhaps-the-strangest-of-all/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/724/eric-temple-bell-26465_apes_even-stranger-things-have-happened-and-p_540176.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/724/eric-temple-bell-26465_apes_even-stranger-things-have-happened-and-p_540176.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/724/eric-temple-bell-26465_apes_even-stranger-things-have-happened-and-p_540176.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Even stranger things have happened; and perhaps the strangest of all is the marvel that mathematics should…” — Eric Temple Bell", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Eric Temple Bell", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-temple-bell/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Even stranger things have happened; and...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-temple-bell/even-stranger-things-have-happened-and-perhaps-the-strangest-of-all/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-temple-bell/even-stranger-things-have-happened-and-perhaps-the-strangest-of-all/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```