Stan Ulam was lazy, ... He talked too much ... He was self-centered ... . He had an overpowering personality.

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.

[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.

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.

When you know yourself—your strengths, joys, limitations, and fears—you can live in truth and transparency in all areas of your life.

I'm like a boomerang, I always come back.

Lying, like license, has its degrees.

I don't think of compassion as sympathy but rather as empathy. An understanding of how people are feeling, which often translates into action.

Politeness does not always inspire goodness, equity, complaisance, and gratitude; it gives at least the appearance of these qualities, and makes man appear outwardly, as he should be within.

The sound of the headboard, that's motivation.

Race is not, and will not be an issue in this case.

In Tennessee where I grew up, there were animals, farms, wagons, mules.

Especially with iPhones, iPads and apps, there's just so much detachment that you're just flicking your fingers on a smooth surface to get the weather or whatever.

I'm a perfectionist. I'm very critical, especially artistically.