Becoming Quote by Johannes Kepler
“I myself, a professional mathematician, on re-reading my own work find it strains my mental powers to recall to mind from the figures the meanings of the demonstrations, meanings which I myself originally put into the figures and the text from my mind. But when I attempt to remedy the obscurity of the material by putting in extra words, I see myself falling into the opposite fault of becoming chatty in something mathematical.”
About This Quote
Source Treat: De Astronomia (Astronomia Nova), 1609
The author finds his own mathematical writings hard to understand later, and adding more words makes them overly verbose.
In simple terms: Hard to reread his own math; extra words cause verbosity.
Key Takeaway
Balance clarity with conciseness.
Themes
clarity
communication
mathematics
Mood
reflective
analytical
Type
philosophical
inspirational
When to use this quote
- academic writing
- self‑review
- teaching
- research documentation
Key Concepts
cognitive load
exposition
precision
Questions to Reflect On
- How can complex ideas be expressed clearly without excess?
- What strategies help retain meaning when revisiting one’s work?
A Different Perspective
Too much detail can obscure meaning, but too little can confuse readers.
![“[...] I could not go on for ever so: I want to enjoy my own faculties as well as to cultivate those of other people. I must enjoy them now; don't recall either my mind or body to the school; I am out of it and disposed for full holiday.” quote by Charlotte Brontë](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/c31/charlotte-bronte-144_education_i-could-not-go-on-for-ever-so-i-want-to_2420674.jpg)
![“[reading a work in translation] is like viewing a piece of Flemish tapestry on the wrong side.” quote by Cervantes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/92b/cervantes-19288_translation_reading-a-work-in-translation-is-like-vi_21761.jpg)
![“[Quantity is the fundamental feature of things,] the 'primarium accidens substantiae,' ...prior to the other categories.” quote by Johannes Kepler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/4a1/johannes-kepler-4278_categories_quantity-is-the-fundamental-feature-of-t_150994.jpg)
![“So, Fabricius, I already have this: that the most true path of the planet [Mars] is an ellipse, which Dürer also calls an oval, or certainly so close to an ellipse that the difference is insensible.” quote by Johannes Kepler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/a6b/johannes-kepler-4278_differences_so-fabricius-i-already-have-this-that-th_311054.jpg)
