Girolamo Cardano Quotes
Girolamo Cardano was an Italian Renaissance polymath, physician, mathematician, astrologer, and natural philosopher whose life spanned brilliance and scandal. He produced foundational work in the algebra of cubic and quartic equations, the early theory of probability, and clinical medicine, and he wrote a remarkable autobiography, The Book of My Life, that has become one of the most read documents of Renaissance self-understanding. The quotes below are attributed to Girolamo Cardano, organized by topic.
Browse Girolamo Cardano by topic
Girolamo Cardano on Death
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“And wel we see ther is none alive that in every respect may be accompted happie, yea though mortall men were free from all calamities, yet the torments & feare of death should stil attend them But b:sides them, behold, what, and how manye evilles there bee, that unlesse the cloude of error bee removed, impossible it is to see the truth, or receive allay of our earthly woes.”
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“Since this art surpasses all human subtelty and the perspecuity of mortal talent and is truly a celestial gift and a very clear test of the capacity of man's minds, whoever applies himself to it will believe that there is nothing that he cannot understand.”
The Great Rules of Algebra(1968)
Girolamo Cardano on Happiness
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“From these beginnings, as it were, have issued bitterness, contentious obstinancy, lack of amenity, hasty judgement, anger, and an intense desire for revenge—to say nothing of headstrong will; that which many damn, by word at least, was my delight .”
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Girolamo Cardano on Knowledge
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Attributed to Girolamo Cardano:
“Astrology is a discipline; philosophy is a way of life.”
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“The greatest advantage in gambling lies in not playing at all.”
Gerolamo Cardano (around 1560). Liber de ludo aleae . -
“Gerolamo Cardano (around 1560). Liber de ludo aleae .”
The greatest advantage in gambling lies in not playing at all. -
“Better it is to have the worst, than none at all. for example we see, that houses are nedefull, such as can not possese & stately pallaces of stone, do persuade themselves to dwell in houses of timber and clap, and wanting them, are contented to inhabite the simple cotage, yea rather than not to be housed at all refuse not the pore cabbon, and most beggerly cave. So necessarie is this gift of consolacion, as there livith no man, but that hathe cause to embrace it. for in these things better is it to have any than none at al.”
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“I am cold of heart, warm of brain, and given to never-ending meditation; I ponder over ideas, many and weighty, and even over things which can never come to pass.”
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“I have accustomed my features always to assume an expression quite contrary to my feelings; thus I am able to feign outwardly, yet within know nothing of dissumulation. This habit is easy if compared to the practice of hoping for nothing , which I have bent my efforts toward acquiring for fifteen successive years, and have at last succeeded.”
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“My personal affairs are not as highly esteemed as men commonly value their own interests—vain, empty affairs like those great clouds seen in the wake of the sunset which are meaningless and soon pass away .”
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Girolamo Cardano on Life
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Attributed to Girolamo Cardano:
“I have known but a single sorrow, and that has consumed me.”
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“So shall we voyd of all craft and sail, with true reason declare how much each man erreth in life, judgement, opinion, and will. Some things there are that so wel do prove themselves, as besides nature nede no profe at all.”
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Girolamo Cardano on Mind
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“I am able to admit two distinct trains of thought to my mind at the same time.”
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Girolamo Cardano on Nature
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Attributed to Girolamo Cardano:
“Mathematics governs nature.”
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Attributed to Girolamo Cardano:
“There is in nature a subtlety that escapes our coarsest categories.”
Girolamo Cardano on Time
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Attributed to Girolamo Cardano:
“Time is the most precious of all things.”