Sometimes One Has To Say

Reductio Ad Absurdum, Which Euclid Loved So Much, Is One Of A Mathematician's Finest Weapons. It Is A Far Finer Gambit Than Any Chess Play: A Chess Player May Offer The Sacrifice Of A Pawn Or Even A Piece, But A Mathematician Offers The Game.

Good Work Is No Done By "humble" Men. It Is One Of The First Duties Of A Professor, For Example, In Any Subject, To Exaggerate A Little Both The Importance Of His Subject And His Own Importance In It. A Man Who Is Always Asking "is What I Do Worth While?" And "am I The Right Person To Do It?" Will Always Be Ineffective Himself And A Discouragement To Others. He Must Shut His Eyes A Little And Think A Little More Of His Subject And Himself Than They Deserve. This Is Not Too Difficult: It Is Harder Not To Make His Subject And Himself Ridiculous By Shutting His Eyes Too Tightly.

There Is No Scorn More Profound, Or On The Whole More Justifiable, Than That Of The Men Who Make For The Men Who Explain.

Greek Mathematics Is The Real Thing. The Greeks First Spoke A Language Which Modern Mathematicians Can Understand... So Greek Mathematics Is 'permanent', More Permanent Even Than Greek Literature.

If A Man Is In Any Sense A Real Mathematician, Then It Is A Hundred To One That His Mathematics Will Be Far Better Than Anything Else He Can Do, And That He Would Be Silly If He Surrendered Any Decent Opportunity Of Exercising His One Talent In Order To Do Undistinguished Work In Other Fields. Such A Sacrifice Could Be Justified Only By Economic Necessity Of Age.