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.
Everything that you do under compulsion goes to build up attachment.
Yes, vanity is a weakness indeed. But pride - where there is a real superiority of mind, pride will be always under good regulation.
A problem is solved not by confronting it directly, but by going to a level where no problem exists.
Words empty as the wind are best left unsaid.
Donβt let the urgent take precedent over the important.
Merely to resist evil with evil by hating those who hate us and seeking to destroy them, is actually no resistance at all. It is active and purposeful collaboration in evil that brings the Christian into direct and intimate contact with the same source of evil and hatred which inspires the acts of his enemy. It leads in practice to a denial of Christ and to the service of hatred rather than love.
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