G. H. Hardy Men Quotations

The creative life [is] the only one for a serious man.

A science is said to be useful if its development tends to accentuate the existing inequalities in the distribution of wealth, or more directly promotes the destruction of human life.

A man who sets out to justify his existence and his activities has to distinguish two different questions. The first is whether the work which he does is worth doing; and the second is why he does it (whatever its value may be).

I count Maxwell and Einstein, Eddington and Dirac, among "real" mathematicians. The great modern achievements of applied mathematics have been in relativity and quantum mechanics, and these subjects are at present at any rate, almost as "useless" as the theory of numbers.

It is rather astonishing how little practical value scientific knowledge has for ordinary men, how dull and commonplace such of it as has value is, and how its value seems almost to vary inversely to its reputed utility.

What we do may be small, but it has a certain character of permanence; and to have produced anything of the slightest permanent interest, whether it be a copy of verses or a geometrical theorem, is to have done something utterly beyond the powers of the vast majority of men.

I do not know an instance of a major mathematical advance initiated by a man past fifty

No mathematician should ever allow himself to forget that mathematics, more than any other art or science, is a young man's game

There is no scorn more profound, or on the whole more justifiable, than that of the men who make for the men who explain.

As history proves abundantly, mathematical achievement, whatever its intrinsic worth, is the most enduring of all.

Good work is not done by 'humble' men

Young men should prove theorems, old men should write books.

No mathematician should ever allow him to forget that mathematics, more than any other art or science, is a young man's game. ... Galois died at twenty-one, Abel at twenty-seven, Ramanujan at thirty-three, Riemann at forty. There have been men who have done great work later; ... [but] I do not know of a single instance of a major mathematical advance initiated by a man past fifty. ... A mathematician may still be competent enough at sixty, but it is useless to expect him to have original ideas.

A science or an art may be said to be "useful" if its development increases, even indirectly, the material well-being and comfort of men, it promotes happiness, using that word in a crude and commonplace way.

Perhaps five or even ten per cent of men can do something rather well. It is a tiny minority who can do anything really well, and the number of men who can do two things well is negligible. If a man has any genuine talent, he should be ready to make almost any sacrifice in order to cultivate it to the full.

We tend to compliment what other medical facilities, what other physicians, and what other hospital companies do in our community.

It's probably the only entertainment event where the people who put it on pay for it and the audience gets a free ticket and we give free gifts to take home.

Most of the applicants that we're getting into the agency to hire as public safety officers want to do one or the other -- either be a policemen or a fireman.

I knew they were going in. I'd dreamed of that moment all my life.

The College of Textiles is great because it is diverse and welcoming. The smaller environment allows you to be more interactive with the college as a whole.

Versatile was able to achieve revenue growth during that period by concentrating on our core goal of providing mobile solutions that operate in a wired or wireless environment, ... This was especially meaningful as the last few years in the technology sector have been particularly difficult. Our growth is a testament to the commitment of our employees in pursuit of our vision.

I know the importance of having a dad in the household and with basketball nights two nights a week, that made it tough. It's hard to be home at night when you're coaching three different sports during the school year. There's a lot of time and commitment in coaching three sports.

It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority. By definition, there are already enough people to do that.

When the world is mad, a mathematician may find in mathematics an incomparable anodyne. For mathematics is, of all the arts and sciences, the most austere and the most remote, and a mathematician should be of all men the one who can most easily take refuge where, as Bertrand Russell says, "one at least of our nobler impulses can best escape from the dreary exile of the actual world."

It is easy for us as students to leave on the light when we exit a room, or let the computer stay on stand-by rather than hibernate without thinking of the environmental or even economic consequences of our actions.

It is easy for students to fall into the pattern of daily activities here. Whether it is the third floor of McCabe, Cornell basement or Hicks lounge, we spend an awful lot of time indoors, despite our beautiful campus.

It is difficult for a woman to define her feelings in a language which is chiefly made by men to express theirs.