Aristotle (384-322 BC, philosopher):
"The chief forms of beauty are order and symmetry and definiteness, which the mathematical sciences demonstrate in a special degree." (Metaphysics)
Martin Gardner (1914-2010, mathematician):
"There is not much difference between the delight a novice experiences in cracking a clever brain teaser and the delight a mathematician experiences in mastering a more advanced problem. Both look on beauty bare - that clear, sharply defined, mysterious entrancing order that underlies all structure." (The Scientific American Book of Mathematical Puzzles & Diversions, 1959)
G. H. Hardy (1877-1947, mathematician):
"The mathematician's patterns, like the painter's or the poet's must be beautiful; the ideas like the colours or the words, must fit together in a harmonious way. Beauty is the first test: there is no permanent place in the world for ugly mathematics." (A Mathematician's Apology, 1941)
Sylvia Serfaty (1975 - now, mathematician):
"It's really beautiful to observe, as you progress in your mathematical maturity, how everything is somehow connected." (The Beauty of Mathematics: It Can Never Lie to You, 2017)
