John von Neumann

"Methods for the solution of human problems must incorporate human nature as it is, not as we wish it to be."

"The great discoveries often come when one is not looking for them, but is prepared to recognize them."

"Nature always operates by the shortest path."

"To understand a problem, one must be willing to solve simpler versions first."

"We must learn to think in terms of systems and relationships, not merely isolated facts."

"The universe is a mathematician and we are merely trying to learn its language."

"Progress is not inevitable, but must be fought for at every moment."

"The laws of logic are not the laws of nature, but the laws we have discovered nature to obey."

"In the end, mathematics is a language for describing the patterns we find in the world."

"The beauty of mathematics lies in the way simple principles combine to create extraordinary complexity."

"We stand at the threshold of understanding how the mind itself can be understood mathematically."

"The greatest mysteries are not in the stars but in the structure of matter itself."

"To solve a problem, one must first know what the problem is."

"The future of civilization depends on our ability to think clearly about complex systems."

"Mathematics is the art of giving the same name to different things."

"Nature abhors a complexity as much as it abhors a vacuum."

"The theorems that matter are those that illuminate rather than obscure."

"When we stop learning, we stop growing."

"The structure of atoms tells us something profound about the structure of reality itself."

"Logic is not life; life is richer and more complex than any logical system."

"Innovation comes not from accepting the boundaries of the current paradigm, but from questioning them."

"The utility of a theory is often inversely proportional to its original intent."

"We are all explorers in the realm of abstraction."

"The greatest invention is not the wheel but the ability to think about the wheel without seeing it."

"Progress requires both destruction and creation in equal measure."

"The mind of the universe is mathematical in nature."

"To understand the present, we must understand the past; to change the future, we must understand both."

"Elegance in mathematics is not a luxury but a necessity."

"The problem with most theorems is that they are not interesting; the problem with interesting theorems is that they are often wrong."

"In mathematics, as in life, the journey is more important than the destination."