Ethical metaphysics is fundamentally an attempt, however disguised, to give legislative force to our own wishes.

Perhaps the best hope for the future of mankind is that ways will be found of increasing the scope and intensity of sympathy.

To the young I should offer two maxims: Don't accept superficial solutions of difficult problems. It is better to do a little good than much harm. I should not offer anything more specific; every young person should decide on his or her own credo.

If the West can claim superiority in anything, it is . . . in science and scientific technique.

That the world is in a bad shape is undeniable, but there is not the faintest reason in history to suppose that Christianity offers a way out.

The axiomatic method has many advantages over honest work.

At the age of eleven, I began Euclid, with my brother as my tutor. This was one of the great events of my life, as dazzling as first love. I had not imagined there was anything so delicious in the world. From that moment until I was thirty-eight, mathematics was my chief interest and my chief source of happiness.