It's better to work with a nice category containing some nasty objects, than a nasty category containing only nice objects.

Any effect, constant, theorem or equation named after Professor X was first discovered by Professor Y , for some value of Y not equal to X.

Why speculate when you can calculate?

When somebody says to me-which they do like every 5 years- "How does it feel to be over the hill?" my response is, "I'm just heading up the mountain."

... commutative algebra is a lot like topology, only backwards.

Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who really care for books read all of them. There is no other course.

It is not the spirit of wealth, of learning, or of culture that can make the church of value, or a power for good in the world, but the spirit of Christ only.

Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody else has thought.

Nothing's hopeless except never trying.

We may be together for another six months—a year—there’s no knowing. At the end we’re certain to be apart. Do you realize how utterly alone we shall be?

I think the stress on income inequality is something that every American should take seriously.

Nature as a whole is a progressive realization of purpose strictly comparable to the realization of purpose in any single plant or animal.

I love thriller writers. My favourites are Harlan Coban, Lee Child, Ian Rankin, Kathy Reichs and Ed McBain.

I like vending machines, because snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at the store, oftentimes I will drop it so that is achieves its maximum flavor potential.

To be good is to be forgotten. I'm going to be so bad I'll always be remembered.