If all sentient beings in the universe disappeared, there would remain a sense in which mathematical objects and theorems would continue to exist even though there would be no one around to write or talk about them. Huge prime numbers would continue to be prime, even if no one had proved them prime.
Martin GardnerThere is still a difference between something and nothing, but it is purely geometrical and there is nothing behind the geometry.
Martin GardnerIf you ask me to tell you anything about the nature of what lies beyond the phaneronโฆ my answer is โHow should I know?โโฆ I am not dismayed by ultimate mysteriesโฆ I can no more grasp what is behind such questions as my cat can understand what is behind the clatter I make while I type this paragraph.
Martin GardnerWouldn't the sentence 'I want to put a hyphen between the words Fish and And and And and Chips in my Fish-and-Chips sign' have been clearer if quotation marks had been placed before Fish, and between Fish and and, and and and And, and And and and, and and and And, and And and and, and and and Chips, as well as after Chips?
Martin GardnerWhen reputable scientists correct flaws in an experiment that produced fantastic results, then fail to get those results when they repeat the test with flaws corrected, they withdraw their original claims. They do not defend them by arguing irrelevantly that the failed replication was successful in some other way, or by making intemperate attacks on whomever dares to criticize their competence.
Martin GardnerIf present trends continue, our country may soon find itself far behind many other nations in both science and technology nations where, if you inform strangers that you are a mathematician, they respond with admiration and not by telling you how much they hated math in school, and how they sure could use you to balance their checkbooks.
Martin Gardner