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

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?"

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.

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

It is the journey that is important—not the destination.

Courage is action, not talk.

Life is so impermanent that it's not about somebody else or things around me, it's about knowing you are completely alone in this world and being content inside.

When you meet someone, you can silently send them a blessing, wishing them happiness, joy and laughter. This kind of silent giving is very powerful.

Next to religion, let your care be to promote justice.

There is something in the character of every man which cannot be broken in--the skeleton of his character; and to try to alter this is like training a sheep for draught purposes.

Rich grandparents get more attention than poor grandparents.

Never stay up on the barren heights of cleverness, but come down into the green valleys of silliness.

Filmmaking is such a collaboration. At a certain point, I suppose you do have to let go and trust the people you're working with.

Power is tolerable only on condition that it mask a substantial part of itself. Its success is proportional to its ability to hide its own mechanisms.