Guided only by their feelings for symmetry, simplicity, and generality, and an indefinable sense of the fitness of things, creative mathematicians now, as in the past, are inspired by the art of mathematics rather than by any prospect of ultimate usefullness.

— E. T. Bell

A smile fell on the grass.
Irretrievable!

And how will your night dances
Lose themselves. In mathematics?

— Sylvia Plath, from The Night Dances

Further Reading:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Temple_Bell

https://hellopoetry.com/poem/710/the-night-dances/

https://poetrywithmathematics.blogspot.com/

[*11.14]

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