It appears to me that if one wants to make progress in mathematics, one should study the masters and not the pupils.
Interpretation
To advance in mathematics, it's more beneficial to learn from the greats than from those still learning.
Niels Henrik Abel emphasizes the importance of studying the works and methods of accomplished mathematicians rather than those of learners or novices. By focusing on the masters, one gains insight into advanced concepts and techniques that have been proven valuable, thus facilitating a deeper understanding and accelerated progress in the field of mathematics.
In practice
During a math seminar, one could use this quote to highlight the importance of studying significant mathematicians.
Until now the theory of infinite series in general has been very badly grounded. One applies all the operations to infinite series as if they were finite; but is that permissible? I think not. Where is it demonstrated that one obtains the differential of an infinite series by taking the differential of each term? Nothing is easier than to give instances where this is not so.
With the exception of the geometrical series, there does not exist in all of mathematics a single infinite series the sum of which has been rigorously determined. In other words, the things which are the most important in mathematics are also those which have the least foundation.
Let us treat them [children], therefore, with all the kindness which we would wish to help to develop in them.
I went to an extreme for literary purposes because I felt all the self-help books out there were so gooey and Pollyanna-ish and nauseating. It was making me angry.
I have been very strongly advocating that poverty must not be used as an excuse to continue child labour. It perpetuates poverty. If children are deprived of education, they remain poor.
The method of instruction in Scouting is that of creating in the boy the desire to learn for himself.
To look into some aspects of the future, we do not need projections by supercomputers. Much of the next millennium can be seen in how we care for our children today. Tomorrow's world may be influenced by science and technology, but more than anything, it is already taking shape in the bodies and minds of our children.
Readers, after all, are making the world with you. You give them the materials, but it's the readers who build that world in their own minds.
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