--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It is the same with mathematics, which…" description: "\"“It is the same with mathematics, which would certainly not have arisen if it had been known from the beginning that in Nature there are no exactly str..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/baf/friedrich-nietzsche-15_nature_it-is-the-same-with-mathematics-which-wo_2233974.jpg" --- # It is the same with mathematics, which would certainly not… ![“It is the same with mathematics, which would certainly not have arisen if it had been known from the beginning that in Nature there are no exactly straight lines, no real circle, no absolute standard of size.” quote by Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/baf/friedrich-nietzsche-15_nature_it-is-the-same-with-mathematics-which-wo_2233974.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/baf/friedrich-nietzsche-15_nature_it-is-the-same-with-mathematics-which-wo_2233974.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/baf/friedrich-nietzsche-15_nature_it-is-the-same-with-mathematics-which-wo_2233974.jpg) > ““It is the same with mathematics, which would certainly not have arisen if it had been known from the beginning that in Nature there are no exactly straight lines, no real circle, no absolute standard of size.”” [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Mathematics relies on idealized concepts that do not exist perfectly in nature. **In simple terms:** Math uses perfect ideas not found in reality. Key Takeaway Accept abstraction while recognizing its limits. Themes philosophy science mathematics Mood reflective analytical Type philosophical critical When to use this quote - teaching - research - engineering - design - philosophical critique Key Concepts idealization abstraction natural limits Questions to Reflect On - How do we balance ideal models with messy reality? - When should we trust approximations? A Different Perspective Pure abstraction can mislead practical applications. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Mathematics](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mathematics/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Straight line](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/straight-line/) ## Related quotes > [Mathematics would certainly have not come into existence if one had known from the beginning that there was in nature no exactly straight line,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/mathematics-would-certainly-have-not-come-into-existence-if-one-had/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“And so the circle of life, the real circle of life, continues. Birth, life, “death”, then born into a new life, over and over…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/d-l-kline/and-so-the-circle-of-life-the-real-circle-of-life-continues-birth/) D. L. Kline > [Logic, too, also rests on assumptions that do not correspond to anything in the real world, e.g., on the assumption that there areequal things,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/logic-too-also-rests-on-assumptions-that-do-not-correspond-to/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [No straight lines make up my life; And all my roads have bends; There's no clear-cut beginnings; And so far no dead-ends.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harry-chapin/no-straight-lines-make-up-my-life-and-all-my-roads-have-bends-there-s/) [Harry Chapin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harry-chapin/) > [Everything is grounded in mystery. Everything is swimming, and the stable does not exist. Life is a series of guesses, and there is mystery…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-de-casseres/everything-is-grounded-in-mystery-everything-is-swimming-and-the-2/) [Benjamin De Casseres](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-de-casseres/) > [I honestly think that a Pavlik fight would be easier than Jones because styles make fights. He's one dimensional, comes in straight lines, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-calzaghe/i-honestly-think-that-a-pavlik-fight-would-be-easier-than-jones/) [Joe Calzaghe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-calzaghe/) > [The so called "progress," "time marching on," is not a straight line, but a pendulum.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/zygmunt-bauman/the-so-called-progress-time-marching-on-is-not-a-straight-line-but-a/) [Zygmunt Bauman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/zygmunt-bauman/) > [“At thee seaside all is narrow horizontals, the world reduced to a few long straight lines pressed between earth and sky.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-banville/at-thee-seaside-all-is-narrow-horizontals-the-world-reduced-to-a-few/) [John Banville](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-banville/) > [If the earth were not round, heavy bodies would not tend from every side in a straight line towards the center of the earth,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/johannes-kepler/if-the-earth-were-not-round-heavy-bodies-would-not-tend-from-every/) [Johannes Kepler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/johannes-kepler/) > [History doesn't always move in a straight line. Sometimes it zigs and zags.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barack-obama/history-doesn-t-always-move-in-a-straight-line-sometimes-it-zigs-and/) [Barack Obama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barack-obama/) > [Common to the two geometries is only the general property of one-to-one correspondence, and the rule that this correspondence determines straight lines as shortest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-reichenbach/common-to-the-two-geometries-is-only-the-general-property-of-one-to/) [Hans Reichenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-reichenbach/) > [When you organize your work and look back at your entire production, it may feel like you're looking at a straight line, but in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vik-muniz/when-you-organize-your-work-and-look-back-at-your-entire-production/) [Vik Muniz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vik-muniz/) > [The song of the curved line is called happiness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rene-crevel/the-song-of-the-curved-line-is-called-happiness/) [Rene Crevel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rene-crevel/) > [A circle is a round straight line with a hole in the middle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/a-circle-is-a-round-straight-line-with-a-hole-in-the-middle/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Look at Jane Austen. Her characters derive in a reasonably straight line from fairy tales.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-davies/look-at-jane-austen-her-characters-derive-in-a-reasonably-straight/) [Andrew Davies](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-davies/) ## More by Friedrich Nietzsche > [Animals know nothing of themselves, and they also know nothing of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/animals-know-nothing-of-themselves-and-they-also-know-nothing-of-the/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“Every select man strives instinctively for a citadel and a privacy, where he is FREE from the crowd, the many, the majority-- where he…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/every-select-man-strives-instinctively-for-a-citadel-and-a-privacy/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“It breaks my heart. Better than your words, your eye tells me all your peril. You are not yet free, you still search for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/it-breaks-my-heart-better-than-your-words-your-eye-tells-me-all-your/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“79. A soul which knows that it is loved, but does not itself love, betrays its sediment: its dregs come up.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/79-a-soul-which-knows-that-it-is-loved-but-does-not-itself-love/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [We deceive ourselves when giving respect to the person for whom we have surrendered ourselves, when we respectively expect them to be as we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/we-deceive-ourselves-when-giving-respect-to-the-person-for-whom-we/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“The great periods of our life occur when we gain the courage to rechristen what is bad about us as what is best.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-great-periods-of-our-life-occur-when-we-gain-the-courage-to/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“What is life? Life - that is: continually shedding something that wants to die. Life - that is: being cruel and inexorable against everything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/what-is-life-life-that-is-continually-shedding-something-that-wants/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [It is thus only this personal feeling of misery that we get rid of by acts of pity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/it-is-thus-only-this-personal-feeling-of-misery-that-we-get-rid-of-by/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“Writers whose thoughts are expressed with clarity and precision are assumed by readers to be superficial. Where the meaning is obscured, then readers give…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/writers-whose-thoughts-are-expressed-with-clarity-and-precision-are/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“he does not wear a twitching, mobile, human face, but rather a mask, as it were, with its features in dignified equilibrium; he does…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/he-does-not-wear-a-twitching-mobile-human-face-but-rather-a-mask-as/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Chastity is a virtue with some, but with many it is almost a vice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/chastity-is-a-virtue-with-some-but-with-many-it-is-almost-a-vice/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [The earth is like the breasts of a woman: useful as well as pleasing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/the-earth-is-like-the-breasts-of-a-woman-useful-as-well-as-pleasing/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [“Of all that is written I love only what a man has written in his own blood.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/of-all-that-is-written-i-love-only-what-a-man-has-written-in-his-own/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [No shepherd and one herd! Everybody wants the same, everybody is the same: whoever feels different goes voluntarily into a madhouse.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/no-shepherd-and-one-herd-everybody-wants-the-same-everybody-is-the/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [Pain makes hens and poets cackle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/pain-makes-hens-and-poets-cackle/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) [Explore all 3,486 Friedrich Nietzsche quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) ## More Mathematics quotes > [It is indeed a surprising and fortunate fact that nature can be expressed by relatively low-order mathematical functions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rudolf-carnap/it-is-indeed-a-surprising-and-fortunate-fact-that-nature-can-be/) [Rudolf Carnap](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rudolf-carnap/) > [“π is a mathematician’s dessert”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/neve-maslakovic/is-a-mathematician-s-dessert/) Neve Maslakovic > [For the execution of the voyage to the Indies, I did not make use of intelligence, mathematics or maps.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-columbus/for-the-execution-of-the-voyage-to-the-indies-i-did-not-make-use-of/) [Christopher Columbus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christopher-columbus/) > [Rule number something or other -- never tell anybody anything unless you're going to get something better in return.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-paretsky/rule-number-something-or-other-never-tell-anybody-anything-unless-you/) [Sara Paretsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-paretsky/) > [If enough money is involved and enough people believe that two plus two equals five the media will report the story with a straight…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-jacoby/if-enough-money-is-involved-and-enough-people-believe-that-two-plus/) [Susan Jacoby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-jacoby/) > [There's no reason for men to be better at maths than women - it's just about our perception.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-riley/there-s-no-reason-for-men-to-be-better-at-maths-than-women-it-s-just/) [Rachel Riley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-riley/) > [“I had a chat with May and I had a sweet talk with April but the lovely conversation that left me to ponder was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-agyemang-yeboah/i-had-a-chat-with-may-and-i-had-a-sweet-talk-with-april-but-the/) [Ernest Agyemang Yeboah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-agyemang-yeboah/) > [For a physicist mathematics is not just a tool by means of which phenomena can be calculated, it is the main source of concepts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/freeman-dyson/for-a-physicist-mathematics-is-not-just-a-tool-by-means-of-which/) [Freeman Dyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/freeman-dyson/) > [Geometry, which should only obey Physics, when united with it sometimes commands it. If it happens that the question which we wish to examine…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-le-rond-d-alembert/geometry-which-should-only-obey-physics-when-united-with-it-sometimes/) [Jean le Rond d'Alembert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-le-rond-d-alembert/) > [In school math and science were my favorite subjects, but I probably in my true self I'm more of a people person. At the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-deschanel/in-school-math-and-science-were-my-favorite-subjects-but-i-probably/) [Emily Deschanel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-deschanel/) > [“How in the world did I ever find you?” Mackenzie Winters “Math class.” Brandon Knight”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bella-jeanisse/how-in-the-world-did-i-ever-find-you-mackenzie-winters-math-class/) [Bella Jeanisse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bella-jeanisse/) > [“One is the notion that knowledge is worth acquiring, all knowledge, and that a solid grounding in mathematics provides one with the essential language…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-h-patterson-jr/one-is-the-notion-that-knowledge-is-worth-acquiring-all-knowledge-and/) [William H. Patterson Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-h-patterson-jr/) > [The mathematical facts worthy of being studied are those which, by their analogy with other facts, are capable of leading us to the knowledge…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henri-poincare/the-mathematical-facts-worthy-of-being-studied-are-those-which-by/) [Henri Poincare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henri-poincare/) > [“When one day Lagrange took out of his pocket a paper which he read at the Académe, and which contained a demonstration of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-baptiste-biot/when-one-day-lagrange-took-out-of-his-pocket-a-paper-which-he-read-at/) Jean-Baptiste Biot > [“We are not told, or not told early enough so that it sinks in, that mathematics is a language, and that we can learn…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mortimer-j-adler/we-are-not-told-or-not-told-early-enough-so-that-it-sinks-in-that/) [Mortimer J. Adler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mortimer-j-adler/) [Browse all 5,382 Mathematics quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mathematics/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“It is the same with mathematics, which would certainly not have arisen if it had been known from the beginning that in Nature there are no exactly straight lines, no real circle, no absolute standard of size.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Friedrich Nietzsche" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/it-is-the-same-with-mathematics-which-would-certainly-not-have-arisen/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Mathematics" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/it-is-the-same-with-mathematics-which-would-certainly-not-have-arisen/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/baf/friedrich-nietzsche-15_nature_it-is-the-same-with-mathematics-which-wo_2233974.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/baf/friedrich-nietzsche-15_nature_it-is-the-same-with-mathematics-which-wo_2233974.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/baf/friedrich-nietzsche-15_nature_it-is-the-same-with-mathematics-which-wo_2233974.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It is the same with mathematics, which would certainly not have arisen if it had been known from the…” — Friedrich Nietzsche", "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": "Friedrich Nietzsche", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“It is the same with mathematics,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/it-is-the-same-with-mathematics-which-would-certainly-not-have-arisen/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/it-is-the-same-with-mathematics-which-would-certainly-not-have-arisen/#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 } } ] } ```