Of these austerer virtues the love of truth is the chief, and in mathematics, more than elsewhere, the love of truth may find encouragement for waning faith. Every great study is not only an end in itself, but also a means of creating and sustaining a lofty habit of mind; and this purpose should be kept always in view throughout the teaching and learning of mathematics.

There have been poverty, pestilence, and famine, which were due to man's inadequate mastery of nature. There have been wars, oppressions and tortures which have been due to men's hostility to their fellow men.

Why repeat the old errors, if there are so many new errors to commit?

If one lived for ever the joys of life would inevitably in the end lose their savour. As it is, they remain perennially fresh.

Nothing is so exhausting as indecision, and nothing is so futile.

The observer, when he seems to himself to be observing a stone, is really, if physics is to be believed, observing the effects of the stone upon himself.

The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt.