[In mathematics] There are two kinds of mistakes. There are fatal mistakes that destroy a theory, but there are also contingent ones, which are useful in testing the stability of a theory.

God created infinity, and man, unable to understand infinity, had to invent finite sets.

We often hear that mathematics consists mainly of "proving theorems." Is a writer's job mainly that of "writing sentences?"

If we have no idea why a statement is true, we can still prove it by induction.

Nature imitates mathematics.

The progress of mathematics can be viewed as progress from the infinite to the finite.

There is something in statistics that makes it very similar to astrology.

Are mathematical ideas invented or discovered? This question has been repeatedly posed by philosophers through the ages and will probably be with us forever.

Running overtime is the one unforgivable error a lecturer can make. After fifty minutes (one microcentury as von Neumann used to say) everybody's attention will turn elsewhere.

It is a common public relations gimmick to give the entire credit for the solution of famous problems to the one mathematician who is responsible for the last step.

The pendulum of mathematics swings back and forth towards abstraction and away from it with a timing that remains to be estimated.

The gem cannot be polished without friction nor man without trials.

The attacks of which I have been the object have broken the spring of life in me... People don't realize what it feels like to be constantly insulted.

I write with a mouse, because it has no psychological associations or memories or habits associated with it.

I made friends during my presidency.

Fame is a powerful aphrodisiac.

Emotion seemed more valid than experience, for I had so much of the former and so little of the latter.

Love will fan the flame, and that flame will warm the heart that's waiting.

Couples take care of each other, Clare, that's what makes them a couple. And couples tell each other when something happens that scares them.

I was in analysis and I told my analyst I wanted to be the best sculptor in the world and he said, 'Richard, calm down.'

Chaos at the bottom means order at the top. Order at the bottom means chaos at the top.