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No one shall expel us from the paradise that Cantor has created for us.
David Hilbert
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote emphasizes the enduring nature of self-created knowledge and ideas, which cannot be taken away by external forces.

David Hilbert's quote reflects the idea that the intellectual and mathematical realms we construct, represented metaphorically as a 'paradise', are sacred and inviolable spaces. No external force can diminish the power and creativity that arise from our thoughts and discoveries, particularly those inspired by Cantor’s groundbreaking work in set theory, which redefined our understanding of infinity and mathematics.

Themes

KnowledgeInfinityMathematicsCreativityIdeas

In practice

Example use cases

In a philosophy class discussing the nature of knowledge and creation.

More from David Hilbert

If one were to bring ten of the wisest men in the world together and ask them what was the most stupid thing in existence, they would not be able to discover anything so stupid as astrology.
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The art of doing mathematics consists in finding that special case which contains all the germs of generality.
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The further a mathematical theory is developed, the more harmoniously and uniformly does its construction proceed, and unsuspected relations are disclosed between hitherto separated branches of the science.
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Wir mussen wissen. Wir werden wissen. We must know. We will know. Inscribed on his tomb in Gilttingen.
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Mathematics is a game played according to certain simple rules with meaningless marks on paper.
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Mathematical science is in my opinion an indivisible whole, an organism whose vitality is conditioned upon the connection of its parts.
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