[math-fun] Euler quote (?)
I just Googled the quote “*My pen is a better mathematician than I am*” (which I’m sure I’ve seen attributed to Euler) in search of the original French or Latin phrasing, and was dismayed to see that the only verbatim appearances of this sentence are references to an earlier essay of mine! I’m hoping this quote isn’t an unintentional fabrication on my part. Can anyone provide a source or reference? Thanks, Jim Propp
for similar quotes attributed to Einstein Google *"My pen is smarter than me", Einstein said* or if you want it in French * "Mon stylo est plus intelligent que moi " *disait souvent Einstein On Sat, Feb 29, 2020 at 11:09 AM James Propp <jamespropp@gmail.com> wrote:
I just Googled the quote “*My pen is a better mathematician than I am*” (which I’m sure I’ve seen attributed to Euler) in search of the original French or Latin phrasing, and was dismayed to see that the only verbatim appearances of this sentence are references to an earlier essay of mine! I’m hoping this quote isn’t an unintentional fabrication on my part. Can anyone provide a source or reference?
Thanks,
Jim Propp _______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun
JP: "I just Googled the quote '*My pen is a better mathematician than I am*' (which I’m sure I’ve seen attributed to Euler) ..." There's a 1969 Lipman Bers 'Calculus' that has on p. 301: "... the kind that made Euler say: 'My pen is more intelligent than I.'"
There's a 1969 Lipman Bers 'Calculus' that has on p. 301: "... the kind that made Euler say: 'My pen is more intelligent than I.'"
Perhaps this is in reference to a passage in Euler's (translated) reflections on the system of monads (Letters of Euler on Different Subjects in Physics and Philosophy, 1802): "Is it not to be apprehended that the monads which compose the pen wherewith I am writing, may have ideas of the universe much clearer than those of my soul? How can I be assured of the contrary? I ought to be ashamed to employ a pen in conveying my feeble conceptions, while the monads of which it consists possibly conceive much more sublimely; and you might have greater reason to be satisfied, should the pen commit its own thoughts to paper, instead of mine."
Hans, you are probably right. Here is the original text in French. "Ne serait-il pas à craindre que les monades qui composent cette plume avec laquelle j'écris eussent des idées du monde beaucoup plus claires que mon âme ? Et comment puis-je être assuré du contraire ? Je devrais avoir honte de me servir de cette plume pour écrire mes faibles pensées pendant que les monades dont cette plume est composée ont peut-être des pensées beaucoup plus sublimes; et V.A. serait peut-être plus satisfaite si ma plume marquait plutôt ses propres pensées sur ce papier que les miennes." Lettre CXXXII (132) du 30 mai 1761 Euler, "Lettres à une princesse d'Allemagne sur divers sujets de physique et de philosophie" -----Message d'origine----- De : math-fun <math-fun-bounces@mailman.xmission.com> De la part de Hans Havermann Envoyé : samedi 29 février 2020 18:20 À : math-fun <math-fun@mailman.xmission.com> Objet : Re: [math-fun] Euler quote (?)
There's a 1969 Lipman Bers 'Calculus' that has on p. 301: "... the kind that made Euler say: 'My pen is more intelligent than I.'"
Perhaps this is in reference to a passage in Euler's (translated) reflections on the system of monads (Letters of Euler on Different Subjects in Physics and Philosophy, 1802): "Is it not to be apprehended that the monads which compose the pen wherewith I am writing, may have ideas of the universe much clearer than those of my soul? How can I be assured of the contrary? I ought to be ashamed to employ a pen in conveying my feeble conceptions, while the monads of which it consists possibly conceive much more sublimely; and you might have greater reason to be satisfied, should the pen commit its own thoughts to paper, instead of mine." _______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun
<< There was scarcely a lady at court who did not take a decided part in favor of monads or against them. >> Euler, letter 5th May 1761, quoted in https://larouchepub.com/eiw/public/1990/eirv17n41-19901026/eirv17n41-1990102... Of course, that was before Alexander Grothendieck & Simon Peyton-Jones got in on the act --- https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1803/1803.10195.pdf I liked it better when a monad was just like a triad or a dyad, only a bit smaller. Guess I'm just an old-fashioned Six-Cornered Snowflake ... WFL On 2/29/20, Christian Boyer <cboyer@club-internet.fr> wrote:
Hans, you are probably right. Here is the original text in French.
"Ne serait-il pas à craindre que les monades qui composent cette plume avec laquelle j'écris eussent des idées du monde beaucoup plus claires que mon âme ? Et comment puis-je être assuré du contraire ? Je devrais avoir honte de me servir de cette plume pour écrire mes faibles pensées pendant que les monades dont cette plume est composée ont peut-être des pensées beaucoup plus sublimes; et V.A. serait peut-être plus satisfaite si ma plume marquait plutôt ses propres pensées sur ce papier que les miennes."
Lettre CXXXII (132) du 30 mai 1761 Euler, "Lettres à une princesse d'Allemagne sur divers sujets de physique et de philosophie"
-----Message d'origine----- De : math-fun <math-fun-bounces@mailman.xmission.com> De la part de Hans Havermann Envoyé : samedi 29 février 2020 18:20 À : math-fun <math-fun@mailman.xmission.com> Objet : Re: [math-fun] Euler quote (?)
There's a 1969 Lipman Bers 'Calculus' that has on p. 301: "... the kind that made Euler say: 'My pen is more intelligent than I.'"
Perhaps this is in reference to a passage in Euler's (translated) reflections on the system of monads (Letters of Euler on Different Subjects in Physics and Philosophy, 1802): "Is it not to be apprehended that the monads which compose the pen wherewith I am writing, may have ideas of the universe much clearer than those of my soul? How can I be assured of the contrary? I ought to be ashamed to employ a pen in conveying my feeble conceptions, while the monads of which it consists possibly conceive much more sublimely; and you might have greater reason to be satisfied, should the pen commit its own thoughts to paper, instead of mine."
_______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun
_______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun
This is, it might seem, an easier task than an improved World Order, but may be not. `` This quote has been intended as a joke [25], but it, surprisingly well, captures the paradoxical nature of how we talk about monads.'' To my ear, it sound less intrusively interrupted to say ``it captures the paradoxical nature of how we talk about monads surprisingly well'' or possibly ``it captures, surprisingly well, the paradoxical nature of how we talk about monads.'' - unless the author was trying to capture the paradoxical nature of how we talk about monads, in which case, count me out. DGR. * Hans Havermann? <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Havermann> ----- From: W. Frederick Lunnon Date: Sun, Mar 1, 2020 at 11:57 AM Subject: Re: [math-fun] Euler quote (?) To: math-fun << There was scarcely a lady at court who did not take a decided part in favor of monads or against them. >> Euler, letter 5th May 1761, quoted in https://larouchepub.com/eiw/public/1990/eirv17n41-19901026/eirv17n41-1990102... Of course, that was before Alexander Grothendieck & Simon Peyton-Jones got in on the act --- https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1803/1803.10195.pdf I liked it better when a monad was just like a triad or a dyad, only a bit smaller. Guess I'm just an old-fashioned Six-Cornered Snowflake ... WFL On 2/29/20, Christian Boyer <cboyer@club-internet.fr> wrote:
Hans, you are probably right. Here is the original text in French.
"Ne serait-il pas à craindre que les monades qui composent cette plume avec laquelle j'écris eussent des idées du monde beaucoup plus claires que mon âme ? Et comment puis-je être assuré du contraire ? Je devrais avoir honte de me servir de cette plume pour écrire mes faibles pensées pendant que les monades dont cette plume est composée ont peut-être des pensées beaucoup plus sublimes; et V.A. serait peut-être plus satisfaite si ma plume marquait plutôt ses propres pensées sur ce papier que les miennes."
Lettre CXXXII (132) du 30 mai 1761 Euler, "Lettres à une princesse d'Allemagne sur divers sujets de physique et de philosophie"
-----Message d'origine----- De : math-fun <math-fun-bounces@mailman.xmission.com> De la part de Hans Havermann Envoyé : samedi 29 février 2020 18:20 À : math-fun <math-fun@mailman.xmission.com> Objet : Re: [math-fun] Euler quote (?)
There's a 1969 Lipman Bers 'Calculus' that has on p. 301: "... the kind that made Euler say: 'My pen is more intelligent than I.'"
Perhaps this is in reference to a passage in Euler's (translated) reflections on the system of monads (Letters of Euler on Different Subjects in Physics and Philosophy, 1802): "Is it not to be apprehended that the monads which compose the pen wherewith I am writing, may have ideas of the universe much clearer than those of my soul? How can I be assured of the contrary? I ought to be ashamed to employ a pen in conveying my feeble conceptions, while the monads of which it consists possibly conceive much more sublimely; and you might have greater reason to be satisfied, should the pen commit its own thoughts to paper, instead of mine."
_______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun
_______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun
DGR: "* Hans Havermann?" <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Havermann> Mein Doppelgänger.
This was in the news recently: http://nautil.us/blog/electrons-dont-think . While I agree with the author Sabine that panpsychism is pseudoscience, I think Euler's meaning may have been that we are limited by our own experience. He was certainly right about that. It is no mistake that Classical mechanics was invented before electrodynamics and quantum mechanics. Suspending disbelief, if electrons were writing all the physics papers, then it is reasonable to expect that electrodynamics and quantum mechanics would have been invented first. A more plausible scenario is where some living entity, either a plant or an insect, could write physics papers. They probably would not have such a mad desire to use physics to invent technologies that would eventually destroy their own habitats (though maybe they would be keen on developing technologies to destroy Homo sapiens habitats). Due to unique adaptations, particular topics might be easier for them to understand or of greater interest. See for example, particularly with Arthropods, Polarization Vision: https://portal.research.lu.se/portal/en/publications/polarization-vision(3bc...
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/266118072_Polarization_Vision
--Brad On Sat, Feb 29, 2020 at 11:20 AM Hans Havermann <gladhobo@bell.net> wrote:
There's a 1969 Lipman Bers 'Calculus' that has on p. 301: "... the kind that made Euler say: 'My pen is more intelligent than I.'"
Perhaps this is in reference to a passage in Euler's (translated) reflections on the system of monads (Letters of Euler on Different Subjects in Physics and Philosophy, 1802): "Is it not to be apprehended that the monads which compose the pen wherewith I am writing, may have ideas of the universe much clearer than those of my soul? How can I be assured of the contrary? I ought to be ashamed to employ a pen in conveying my feeble conceptions, while the monads of which it consists possibly conceive much more sublimely; and you might have greater reason to be satisfied, should the pen commit its own thoughts to paper, instead of mine."
_______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun
participants (7)
-
Brad Klee -
Christian Boyer -
Douglas Rogers -
Fred Lunnon -
Hans Havermann -
James Propp -
W. Edwin Clark