Discovery Quote by George Polya

“The future mathematician ... should solve problems, choose the problems which are in his line, meditate upon their solution, and invent new problems. By this means, and by all other means, he should endeavor to make his first important discovery: he should discover his likes and dislikes, his taste, his own line.”

George Polya

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Discovery Dislike Endeavor Firsts Important Likes Likes and dislikes Lines Mathematician Mean Problem Science Should Solutions Solve Taste

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Pedantry and mastery are opposite attitudes toward rules. To apply a rule to the letter, rigidly, unquestioningly, in cases where it fits and in…

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A GREAT discovery solves a great problem but there is a grain of discovery in any problem.

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Where should I start? Start from the statement of the problem. ... What can I do? Visualize the problem as a whole as clearly…

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In order to translate a sentence from English into French two things are necessary. First, we must understand thoroughly the English sentence. Second, we…

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Look around when you have got your first mushroom or made your first discovery: they grow in clusters.

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Beauty in mathematics is seeing the truth without effort.

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I am too good for philosophy and not good enough for physics. Mathematics is in between.

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Solving problems is a practical art, like swimming, or skiing, or playing the piano: you can learn it only by imitation and practice.

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An idea which can be used only once is a trick. If one can use it more than once it becomes a method.

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To teach effectively a teacher must develop a feeling for his subject; he cannot make his students sense its vitality if he does not…

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The world is anxious to admire that apex and culmination of modern mathematics: a theorem so perfectly general that no particular application of it…

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The first rule of discovery is to have brains and good luck. The second rule of discovery is to sit tight and wait till…

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Explore all 63 George Polya quotes

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Throughout my work, I have assumed that the standard model is correct, and hence, the Higgs boson should be found. Although this is not…

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There is usually no dreamer so unworldly as the anthologist. He wanders in a vast garden, lost in wonder, unable to decide often between…

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New generations of humans inherit the acquired discoveries of generations past, allowing cosmic insight to accumulate without limit. Each discovery of science therefore adds…

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The discovery that heartbreak is indeed heartbreaking consoles us about our humanity.

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“[W]e must learn to accommodate ourselves to the discovery that some of those cunningly-fashioned instruments called human souls have only a very limited range…

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We cannot predict the new forces, powers, and discoveries that will be disclosed to us when we reach the other planets and set up…

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That has been another interesting discovery: that basically a city [Lagos] could recover from a really deep, deep, deep pit.

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Every fact of science was once Damned. Every invention was considered impossible. Every discovery was a nervous shock to some orthodoxy. Every artistic innovation…

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