When a philosopher says something that is true then it is trivial. When he says something that is not trivial then it is false.

We must admit with humility that, while number is purely a product of our minds, space has a reality outside our minds, so that we cannot completely prescribe its properties a priori.

I have had my results for a long time: but I do not yet know how I am to arrive at them.

To praise it would amount to praising myself. For the entire content of the work... coincides almost exactly with my own meditations which have occupied my mind for the past thirty or thirty-five years.

God does arithmetic.

To such idle talk it might further be added: that whenever a certain exclusive occupation is coupled with specific shortcomings, it is likewise almost certainly divorced from certain other shortcomings.

I mean the word proof not in the sense of the lawyers, who set two half proofs equal to a whole one, but in the sense of a mathematician, where half proof = 0, and it is demanded for proof that every doubt becomes impossible.

It may be true, that men, who are mere mathematicians, have certain specific shortcomings, but that is not the fault of mathematics, for it is equally true of every other exclusive occupation.

When a philosopher says something that is true then it is trivial. When he says something that is not trivial then it is false.

Life stands before me like an eternal spring with new and brilliant clothes.

You know that I write slowly. This is chiefly because I am never satisfied until I have said as much as possible in a few words, and writing briefly takes far more time than writing at length.

The problem of distinguishing prime numbers from composite numbers and of resolving the latter into their prime factors is known to be one of the most important and useful in arithmetic.

Mathematicians stand on each other's shoulders.

I am coming more and more to the conviction that the necessity of our geometry cannot be demonstrated, at least neither by, nor for, the human intellect.

Further, the dignity of the science itself seems to require that every possible means be explored for the solution of a problem so elegant and so celebrated.

It is not knowledge, but the act of learning, not possession but the act of getting there, which grants the greatest enjoyment.

The enchanting charms of this sublime science reveal only to those who have the courage to go deeply into it.

When I have clarified and exhausted a subject, then I turn away from it, in order to go into darkness again.

It is not knowledge but the act of learning not possession but the act of getting there which grants the greatest enjoyment.

Mathematics is concerned only with the enumeration and comparison of relations.

Mathematics is the queen of science.

Art is a critical component in a well-rounded education. Art is the level playing field - no matter how rich or poor, tall or short, pretty or ugly to the bone, if you can draw, you can find personal fulfillment and build self-confidence. Art is the highest achievement of mankind.

Each of my records has a different focus, a different theme.

Women I admired growing up - Debra Winger, Diane Keaton, Meryl Streep - were all beautiful and thin, but not too thin. There are a lot of actresses who are unhealthy-skinny - much, much too skinny. You can't Pilates to that.

I was the hallway clown in high school.

It's great that I get accused of not being politically correct. People need to take themselves less seriously. This world is so screwed up as it is, we've all got to relax a bit more.

Don't be too hasty, don't take somebody else's opinion without testing it.

But, we have had the debate in our country now for a number of years as to whether or not free trade agreements are good for economic growth and economic opportunity in creating jobs and lifting people out of poverty.

I never did have a team that I watched in my younger days.

Commitment is an act not a word.

The story of America's quest for freedom is inscribed on her history in the blood of her patriots.

When you're asked by the president to serve, it's awfully hard to say no, and I'm loyal.

The chief obstacle to the progress of the human race is the human race.

I've always been interested in singing. My sister's a fantastic singer, and it's just something that's always been around. I play saxophone and guitar. I'd definitely like to pursue it, and it's something I'd like to keep going, if not as a career, then as a hobby.

It's hard, because when you talk about process or your characters ruling your narrative, it sounds like you have no control, but obviously you're ultimately the author, so you do have control.

The secret of life is to appreciate the pleasure of being terribly deceived.

When you're talented, you're talented.

In the rush for justice it is important not to lose sight of principles the country holds dear.

There is a reason for everything.

I turned down the first script offered to me, and the second. I lay on my back one day under an umbrella, in the garden, reading the third, and wondered why I had turned down the first.

One ever feels his twoness - an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.

I couldn't have come close without my teammates' help because the Knicks didn't want me to make 100.

My father was a preacher in Maryland and we had crab feasts - with corn on the cob, but no beer, being Methodist - outside on the church lawn.

Drama holds you back.

Who is to say who is the villain and who is the hero? Probably the dictionary.