24 Quotes by Paul Lockhart

Of course, being a mathematician, I'm always looking for ways to avoid tedious mundane labor. Especially if it means I get to do a bunch of interesting abstract thinking. That's kind of the whole math thing: working hard to find ways to get out of working hard. If you are really, really lazy, and also happen to be really, really clever, then math just might be the life for you (assuming you also have no interest in wealth, fame, or popularity).

And I'll go even further and say that mathematics, this art of abstract pattern-making — even more than storytelling, painting, or music - is our most quintessentially human art form. This is what our brains do, whether we like it or not. We are biochemical pattern-recognition machines and mathematics is nothing less than the distilled essence of who we are.

Mathematics is not a language, it’s an adventure.

Doing mathematics should always mean finding patterns and crafting beautiful and meaningful explanations.

Mathematics is the purest of the arts, as well as the most misunderstood.

A good problem is something you don’t know how to solve. That’s what makes it a good puzzle and a good opportunity.

It is the story that matters not just the ending.

There is nothing as dreamy and poetic, nothing as radical, subversive, and psychedelic, as mathematics.

Mental acuity of any kind comes from solving problems yourself, not from being told how to solve them.