When a philosopher says something that is true then it is trivial. When he says something that is not trivial then it is false.

It is not knowledge, but the act of learning, not possession but the act of getting there, which grants the greatest enjoyment.

Life stands before me like an eternal spring with new and brilliant clothes.

You know that I write slowly. This is chiefly because I am never satisfied until I have said as much as possible in a few words, and writing briefly takes far more time than writing at length.

Theory attracts practice as the magnet attracts iron.

You have no idea, how much poetry there is in the calculation of a table of logarithms!

There have been only three epoch-making mathematicians, Archimedes, Newton, and Eisenstein.

We must admit with humility that, while number is purely a product of our minds, space has a reality outside our minds, so that we cannot completely prescribe its properties a priori.

If others would but reflect on mathematical truths as deeply and as continuously as I have, they would make my discoveries.

Mathematicians stand on each other's shoulders.

I have had my results for a long time: but I do not yet know how I am to arrive at them.

Love is our religion. Love is our light. It is the only thing that gives us any hope.

Before you begin scrambling up the ladder of success, make sure that it is leaning against the right building.

He who laughs most, learns best

The bulk of the world's knowledge is an imaginary construction.

The love of life begins with the love of one person.

Talent is required, but much of writing is a matter of craft, which develops with time, attention, patience and practice, like playing an instrument or learning to dance.

I remember making a videotape in a fancy hair salon in Beverly Hills. The soundtrack in the salon had a whole worldview behind it - I was interested in things like that.

My crazy parents and those crazy Catholic nuns didn't do a good job of forcing me to keep the Ten Commandments, but they kept me forever fixated on the very idea of a taboo.

To look back all the time is boring. Excitement lies in tomorrow.

In my house there's this light switch that doesn't do anything. Every so often, I would flick it on and off just to check. Yesterday, I got a call from a woman in Germany. She said 'cut it out'