It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority. By definition, there are already enough people to do that.
Interpretation
G. H. Hardy suggests that intelligent individuals should not conform to the majority, as their unique contributions and thoughts are more valuable.
The quote by G. H. Hardy emphasizes the idea that true intellectual engagement and valuable insights often come from those who think differently from the masses. By stating that it is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority, Hardy advocates for individuality and original thought, suggesting that the majority already has enough representation and that innovation and progress stem from those who dare to stand apart.
In practice
During a debate about societal norms, this quote can be used to promote individuality.
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.
Virtue and learning, like gold, have their intrinsic value: but if they are not polished, they certainly lose a great deal of their luster: and even polished brass will pass upon more people than rough gold.
Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, the first passion and the last.
Quietude, which some men cannot abide because it reveals their inward poverty, is as a palace of cedar to the wise, for along its hallowed courts the King in his beauty deigns to walk.
Unless a man feels he has a good enough memory, he should never venture to lie.
Don't be too quick to draw conclusions from what happens to you; simply let it happen. Otherwise it will be too easy for you to look with blame... at your past, which naturally has a share with everything that now meets you.
Listen closely to your invisible thoughts. What do you hear? What are your words implying? That is their potency. What do you want? Name it and rearrange the structure of your mind to imply you no longer desire it, because you already have it!
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.