"Quotations for Every Mathematics Class"

This paper appeared in the October 1998 issue of the Mathematics Teacher. The full text of this paper appears on the NCTM WorldWideWeb site: Quotations for Every Mathematics Class. Below are several excerpts from this paper:

• "Among the many benefits of using quotations in mathematics classes, I find one the most critical. Namely, the ability of quotations to alleviate narrow, educationally detrimental misconceptions of the nature of mathematics by illustrating its rich historical, aesthetic, humanistic, intellectual, artistic, philosophical and epistemological aspects."
• "To provide a flavor for the way quotations may be used to address these aspects, below I present and loosely categorize quotations I have utilized in my classes. While the level of these quotations reflects my collegiate audience, I believe the variety and breadth of the resources available suggest this practice may be effectively utilized in virtually any mathematics classroom."
• "I offer my story as evidence of how educationally significant a simple practice such as sharing a "quotation of the day" may be... These quotations began a remarkable transformation. My passion for black holes quickly shifted to the nature of the infinite, fractals, chaos, the fourth dimension, mathematical paradox, mathematical pedagogy and mathematical epistemology. Mathematics became, and remains to this day, my calling -- thanks, in large part, to these quotations."

Published Papers on Using Quotations

• Edwards, Audrey T. and Dermott, R. Allan. "A New Way with Vocabulary." Journal of Reading 32 (March 1989): 559-61.
• Flack, Jerry. "Quotations in the Classroom." Teaching K-8 24 (November/December 1993): 58-60.
• Fleron, Julian F. "Quotations for Every Mathematics Class." Mathematics Teacher 91 (7) (October, 1998): 549-53.
• Miller, Dan L. "The Literary Form of the 80s: Using Quotations to Teach English." English Journal 76 (March 1987): 52-5.
• Montvilo, Jerome A. "Quotation, Unquotation." Journal of College Science Teaching 28 (May 1994): 372-374.
• Morache, Jette. "Use of Quotations in Teaching Literature." English Journal 76 (October 1987): 61-63.
• Nelson, Jennifer T. "Voices from the Past: Quotations." Southern Social Studies Journal 19 (Spring 1994): 45-54.
• Zerger, Monte J. "A Quote a Day Educates." Mathematical Intelligencer 20 (2: Spring 1998): 5-6.

Books of Quotations

Mathematical Quotations

• Memorabilia Mathematics: A Philomath's Quotation Book, by Robert E. Moritz, published by the Mathematical Association of America, Washington, D.C., reprinted 1993. This book of "anecdotes, aphorisms, and passages by famous mathematicians, scientists & writers" is an unabridged reproduction of the 1914 version. It's quite extensive, with over 1100 entries.
• Out of the Mouths of Mathematicians: A Quotation Book for Philomath's, by Rosemary Schmaltz, published by the Mathematical Association of America, Washington, D.C., 1993. "This work is a similar compilation of quotations [as Moritz's], more limited in many ways yet expanded in others. First, I have limited my sources, with a few exceptions, to the writings of mathematicians of this century."
• The Music of Reason: Experiencing the Beauty of Mathematics Through Quotations, by Theoni Pappas, published by Wide World Publishing/Tetra, San Carlos, Ca., 1995. A short, but wonderful book of quotations; appropriate for teachers of mathematics at all levels.
• Mathematically Speaking: A Dictionary of Quotations, by Carl C. Gaither and Alma E. Cavazos-Gaither, published by Institute of Physics Publishing, Bristol, England, 1998.
• Statistically Speaking: A Dictionary of Quotations, by Carl C. Gaither and Alma E. Cavazos-Gaither, published by Institute of Physics Publishing, Bristol, England.
• Dictionary of Mathematical Quotations, by Donald D. Spencer, Camelot Publishing Co., 1998.

Educational Quotations

• A Teacher's Treasury of Quotations, compiled by Bernard E. Farber, published by McFarland & Co. Inc., Publishers, Jefferson, N.C., 1985. A wonderful and extensive collection of "profound, provocative, or witty" quotations "written (or said) in an engaging style."
• The Teacher's Quotation Book, collected by Wanda Lincoln and Murray Suid, published by Dale Seymour Publications, Palo Alto, Ca., 1986. A fairly brief, but engaging collection of "little lessons on learning."

Quotations in Other Particular Areas of Interest

• Quotations in Black, by Anita King. An extensive collection of quotations by African-Americans.
• The Beacon Book of Quotations by Women, compiled by Rosalie Maggio. An extensive collection of quotations by women.
• My Soul Looks Back, 'Less I Forget, edited by Dorothy Winbush Riley. An extensive collection of quotations from African-Americans.
• A Dictionary of Scientific Quotations, edited by Alan McKay, published by Adam Hilger (IOP Publ. Ltd.), New York, N.Y., 1991.
• A Literary Companion to Science, by Walter Gratzer, published by W.W. Norton & Co., New York, N.Y., 1989.
• A Dictionary of Environmental Quotations, by B.K. Rodes and R. Odell, published by Simon and Schuster, New York, N.Y., 1992.

Quotation Databases

• Mathematical and Educational Quotation Server at Westfield State College, edited by Julian F. Fleron. A World Wide Web database of mathematical and educational quotations. The quotations are intended for a broad audience. Includes a search engine to search by keywords and author's last names. Located at the URL:

• Furman University Mathematics Quotation Server, edited by Mark Woodard. A World Wide Web database of mathematical quotations. Most of these quotations are intended for audience with a fair amount of mathematical sophistication. Located at the URL:

• Texas Education Agency: Education Quotations, a collection of over 100 educational quotations listed alphabetically by the author's last name. Located at the URL:

How to Search, Format of References, and Other Technical Details

Using the Search Engine

• Case Sensitivity. None of the search routines are case sensitive.
• Displayed Order of Quotations. In any search, the quotations will be listed alphabetically by the author's last name. The number of quotations resulting from this search will be displayed on the bottom of the page.
• Author Search will search for any occurrence of the given string in the author name field of the database and return all matches on a WWWebpage. For example, search under "stein" will find not only Eli Stein, but also Einstein. If only Stein is desired, search under " stein" with a space preceding the "s".
• Quote Search will search for any occurrence of the given string in the text field of all quotations in the database and return all matches on a WWWebpage. Such a search will not find the given string in the author or reference description fields.
• Description of Quote will search for any occurrence of the given string in the reference field of all the quotations in the database and return all matches on a WWWebpage. For example, a search under "Monthly" will find all quotations that are listed as appearing in American Mathematical Monthly articles.
• Listing the Complete Quotation Collection can be accomplished by entering a space (" ") under Search in the Quote category. This happens because every quote in the database has at least one space in it. Note: do not do this in the Author category as authors with single names such as Plato and Galileo will be omitted.

Format of the References

If the citation description says "from..." it means the quotation was extracted from a longer passage that was written by the author and which appeared in the cited referenced. If the description says "quoted in..." it means that the quotation appeared only as a quotation in the cited reference.

I have tried to provide references that are as complete and accurate as possible. In finding these quotes, many references have been incomplete or incorrect. Hence, my policy is to provide as references the location where I found the particular quote. Sometimes correct, original citations can be found in these locations.

I have tried to be diligent in providing the exact quotes, I apologize if there are any discrepancies or quotes are wrongly attributed.

Other Technical Details

• Each quotation in the database is assigned a reference number which is displayed on all WWWebpages with the quotation. If there are problems with a specific quotation you can refer to the quotation by this number.
• Due to database management/perl script interface problems, apostrophes (') will often be temporarily replaced by a single quotation mark (").

The Mathematical and Educational Quotation Server at Westfield State College is created, edited, and maintained by Julian F. Fleron