Context

This quote is taken from the philosophical book Mysticism and Logic, published by Bertrand Russell in 1910.

Bertrand Russell is a guy who likes to point out all the ways that people often know things they don't think they know. But he also likes to point out how we don't know tons of stuff that we think we do.

Take math, for example. A lot of people think of math as truth. But when you think about it, math is just a bunch of symbols we put together. And when you say that 2 + 2 equals 4, it's like you're saying that bachelors are unmarried men. You're just representing the same thing in two different ways, and so no new knowledge is created with math equations… think about it.

Where you've heard it

Even with all those great math movies out there (like Good Will Hunting or A Beautiful Mind), you're unlikely to find anyone in pop culture use this quote. You're much more likely to hear it from a smiling professor who wants to blow your minds by suggesting that math, of all the fields of knowledge, is probably the least certain. That's because math is basically a bunch of numbers that we just made up ourselves, since there are no number 2's or 5's or equals signs in nature. So yeah, again, think about it.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

If you paraphrased this quote and told people that math is the most "made up" field of all human knowledge, you might get away with a few confused looks from the people around you. But if you actually use Bertrand Russell's quote word for word and close by saying, "That's from Bertrand Russell," then you can expect a whole lot of eye rolling and you might even have to dodge a handful of potato chips that someone throws your way.