There is no scorn more profound, or on the whole more justifiable, than that of the men who make for the men who explain. Exposition, criticism, appreciation, is work for second-rate minds.
Interpretation
Hardy expresses disdain for those who merely explain rather than create, suggesting that critical analysis is inferior to original thought.
In this quote, G. H. Hardy conveys a strong belief that the act of creating or producing new ideas and works is far superior to the act of merely explaining, critiquing, or analyzing the works of others. He perceives exposition and criticism as activities that do not contribute to the advancement of knowledge or art, and thus considers those who engage in these pursuits as second-rate thinkers compared to the innovators and creators who push boundaries and contribute original concepts to society.
In practice
This quote could be used in a lecture on the importance of creativity in the arts.
A chess problem is genuine mathematics, but it is in some way "trivial" mathematics. However, ingenious and intricate, however original and surprising the moves, there is something essential lacking. Chess problems are unimportant. The best mathematics is serious as well as beautiful-"important" if you like, but the word is very ambiguous, and "serious" expresses what I mean much better.
Mathematics is not a contemplative but a creative subject; no one can draw much consolation from it when he has lost the power or the desire to create; and that is apt to happen to a mathematician rather soon. It is a pity, but in that case he does not matter a great deal anyhow, and it would be silly to bother about him.
Exposition, criticism, appreciation, is work for second-rate minds.
It is hardly possible to maintain seriously that the evil done by science is not altogether outweighed by the good. For example, if ten million lives were lost in every war, the net effect of science would still have been to increase the average length of life.
Real mathematics must be justified as art if it can be justified at all.
If intellectual curiosity, professional pride, and ambition are the dominant incentives to research, then assuredly no one has a fairer chance of gratifying them than a mathematician.
No more fear of hunger. A new kind of freedom. But what then ... what? What would my life be like on a daily basis? Most of it has been consumed with the acquisition of food. Take that away and I'm not really sure who I am, what my identity is. The idea scares me some.
There is nothing in the whole frame of man which seems to me so unaccountable as that thing called conscience.
Days, months, years fly away, and irrecoverably sink in the abyss of time.
Every man is a borrower and a mimic, life is theatrical and literature a quotation.
The root of almost every schism and heresy from which the Christian Church has suffered, has been because of the effort of men to earn, rather than receive their salvation; and the reason preaching is so commonly ineffective is, that it often calls on people to work for God rather than letting God work through them.
When we meet a person truly in need, do we see the face of God?
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