As history proves abundantly, mathematical achievement, whatever its intrinsic worth, is the most enduring of all.

Perhaps five or even ten per cent of men can do something rather well. It is a tiny minority who can do anything really well, and the number of men who can do two things well is negligible. If a man has any genuine talent, he should be ready to make almost any sacrifice in order to cultivate it to the full.

No one has yet discovered any warlike purpose to be served by the theory of numbers or relativity, and it seems unlikely that anyone will do so for many years.

For my part, it is difficult for me to say what I owe to Ramanujan - his originality has been a constant source of suggestion to me ever since I knew him, and his death is one of the worst blows I have ever had.

For any serious purpose, intelligence is a very minor gift.

As history proves abundantly, mathematical achievement, whatever its intrinsic worth, is the most enduring of all.

Real mathematics must be justified as art if it can be justified at all.