What we do may be small, but it has a certain character of permanence; and to have produced anything of the slightest permanent interest, whether it be a copy of verses or a geometrical theorem, is to have done something utterly beyond the powers of the vast majority of men.

No one should ever be bored. … One can be horrified, or disgusted, but one can’t be bored.

Archimedes will be remembered when Aeschylus is forgotten, because languages die and mathematical ideas do not. "Immortality" may be a silly word, but probably a mathematician has the best chance of whatever it may mean.

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

Good work is not done by 'humble' men

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

The fact is there are few more popular subjects than mathematics. Most people have some appreciation of mathematics, just as most people can enjoy a pleasant tune.