21 Quotes by John Allen Paulos

Certainty a strange Ferris wheel of a statement!

Uncertainty is the only certainty there is, and knowing how to live with insecurity is the only security.

Data, data everywhere, but not a thought to think.

The Internet is the world’s largest library. It’s just that all the books are on the floor.

So many see themselves as aggrieved; so few see themselves as aggrievers.

Innumeracy and pseudoscience are often associated, in part because of the ease with which mathematical certainty can be invoked, to bludgeon the innumerate into a dumb acquiescence.

Mathematics is no more computation than typing is literature.

In listening to stories we tend to suspend disbelief in order to be entertained, whereas in evaluating statistics we generally have an opposite inclination to suspend belief in order not to be beguiled.

When asked why he doesn’t believe in astrology, the logician Raymond Smullyan responds that he’s a Gemini and Geminis never believe in astrology.