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.
When some remote ancestor of ours invented the shovel, he became a giver: He could plant a tree. And when the axe was invented, he became a taker: He could chop it down. Whoever owns land has thus assumed, whether he knows it or not, the divine functions of creating and destroying plants.
A person's worth in this world is estimated according to the value he puts on himself.
The best stories don't come from "good vs. bad" but "good vs. good.
If you say, Well, OK, I don't believe in God. There's no evidence of God, then you're missing the stars in the sky and you're missing the sunrises and sunsets and you're missing the fact that bees pollinate all these crops and keep us alive and the way that everything seems to work together. Everything is sort of built in a way that to me suggests intelligent design.
What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?
Once Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly...
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