Relying on words to lead you to the truth is like relying on an incomplete formal system to lead you to the truth. A formal system will give you some truths, but as we shall soon see, a formal system, no matter how powerful—cannot lead to all truths.

— Douglas Hofstadter, Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid (1979)

From Gödel, Escher, Bach (1979), ch. 9.

Topics: mathematics