The Creative Life Was The Only One

The Study Of Mathematics Is, If An Unprofitable, A Perfectly Harmless And Innocent Occupation.

I Wrote A Great Deal During The Next Ten [early] Years,but Very Little Of Any Importance; There Are Not More Than Four Or Five Papers Which I Can Still Remember With Some Satisfaction.

Mathematics May, Like Poetry Or Music, "promote And Sustain A Lofty Habit Of Mind."

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

I Do Not Remember Having Felt, As A Boy, Any Passion For Mathematics, And Such Notions As I May Have Had Of The Career Of A Mathematician Were Far From Noble. I Thought Of Mathematics In Terms Of Examinations And Scholarships: I Wanted To Beat Other Boys, And This Seemed To Be The Way In Which I Could Do So Most Decisively.