Of these austerer virtues the love of truth is the chief, and in mathematics, more than elsewhere, the love of truth may find encouragement for waning faith. Every great study is not only an end in itself, but also a means of creating and sustaining a lofty habit of mind; and this purpose should be kept always in view throughout the teaching and learning of mathematics.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of truth in mathematics and how it sustains intellectual rigor and motivation in learning.
Bertrand Russell highlights that among the essential virtues, the love of truth stands out, particularly in mathematics. He suggests that this discipline not only serves as an academic pursuit but also fosters the habit of seeking truth, which is crucial for nurturing a profound and lasting understanding in learners. Therefore, the essence of teaching and learning mathematics should focus on maintaining this perspective of truthfulness to enhance one's intellectual engagement.
In practice
During a math lecture to inspire students about the purpose of their studies.
St. Paul introduced an entirely novel view of marriage, that it existed primarily to prevent the sin of fornication. It is just as if one were to maintain that the sole reason for baking bread is to prevent people from stealing cake.
Freedom comes only to those who no longer ask of life that it shall yield them any of those personal goods that are subject to the mutations of time.
At all times, except when a monarch could enforce his will, war has been facilitated by the fact that vigorous males, confident of victory, enjoyed it, while their females admired them for their prowess.
Moreover, the attitude that one ought to believe such and such a proposition, independently of the question whether there is evidence in its favor, is an attitude which produces hostility to evidence and causes us to close our minds to every fact that does not suit our prejudices.
Extreme hopes are born from extreme misery.
Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.
A book is a dream that you hold in your hands.
The goal of education is not to increase the amount of knowledge but to create the possibilities for a child to invent and discover, to create men who are capable of doing new things.
If you step up the self-education curve, you will come up with more answers than you can use.
A war of ideas can no more be won without books than a naval war can be won without ships. Books, like ships, have the toughest armor, the longest cruising range, and mount the most powerful guns.
Because you don't learn anything unless you can find the patience to read. TV takes that away from you. It robs you from your mind.
In Holy Cross, I came to like school, to like studying in a way I had never done before.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.