Fermat said he had a proof.

I tried to fit it in with some previous broad conceptual understanding of some part of mathematics that would clarify the particular problem I was thinking about.

Pure mathematicians just love to try unsolved problems - they love a challenge.

Always try the problem that matters most to you.

I had this rare privilege of being able to pursue in my adult life, what had been my childhood dream.

Mathematicians aren't satisfied because they know there are no solutions up to four million or four billion, they really want to know that there are no solutions up to infinity.

The definition of a good mathematical problem is the mathematics it generates rather than the problem itself.

I grew up in Cambridge in England, and my love of mathematics dates from those early childhood days.

The greatest problem for mathematicians now is probably the Riemann Hypothesis.

I never use a computer.

However impenetrable it seems, if you don't try it, then you can never do it.

You can put a public school and university in the middle of every block of every city in America—but you will never keep America from rotting morally by mere intellectual education.

When people have peace, they hate it and long for excitement, and when they have excitement, they want peace.

I became chairman of the inmates committee. Got into a lot of trouble. Was accused of fomenting a riot. Was accused of plotting to kill the warden.

I once asked [John] Lennon what he thought of what I do. He said 'it's great, but its just rock and roll with lipstick on'.

I saw this wino, he was eating grapes. I was like, "Dude, you have to wait".

You cannot belong to anyone else, until you belong to yourself.

Does it matter whether you hate yourself? At least love your eyes that can see, your mind that can hear the music, the thunder of the wings.

If we achieve satori and the satori shows, like a bit of dogshit stuck to the top of our nose, that is not so good.

I wouldn't know what to do on a date. I don't have the time. To make a relationship work, I'd have to give something up, and I'm not so sure I'm willing to do that.

Does he [the president] possess the power of making war? That power is exclusively vested in Congress. . . . It is the exclusive province of Congress to change a state of peace into a state of war.