[On Cantor's work:] The finest product of mathematical genius and one of the supreme achievements of purely intellectual human activity.
David HilbertThe arithmetical symbols are written diagrams and the geometrical figures are graphic formulas.
David HilbertMathematics knows no races or geographic boundaries; for mathematics, the cultural world is one country.
David HilbertWe do not master a scientific theory until we have shelled and completely prised free its mathematical kernel.
David HilbertIf one were to bring ten of the wisest men in the world together and ask them what was the most stupid thing in existence, they would not be able to discover anything so stupid as astrology.
David HilbertWe ought not to believe those who today, adopting a philosophical air and with a tone of superiority, prophesy the decline of culter and are content with the unknowable in a self-satisfied way. For us there is no unknowable, and in my opinion there is also non whatsoever for the natural sciences. In place of this foolish unknowable, let our watchword on the contrary be: we must know - we shall know.
David Hilbert