A good mathematical joke is better, and better mathematics, than a dozen mediocre papers.

The infinitely competent can be uncreative.

It is possible for a mathematician to be "too strong" for a given occasion. He forces through, where another might be driven to a different, and possible more fruitful, approach. (So a rock climber might force a dreadful crack, instead of finding a subtle and delicate route.)

Try a hard problem. You may not solve it, but you will prove something else.

I listen only to Bach, Beethoven or Mozart. Life is too short to waste on other composers.

The referee said it was not acceptable, but the Press considered they could not refuse to publish a book by a professor of the university.

The first test of potential in mathematics is whether you can get anything out of geometry.