John von Neumann Quotes

31 quotes in 509 categories

• The sciences do not try to explain, they hardly even try to interpret, they mainly make models. By a model is meant a mathematical construct…
• The calculus was the first achievement of modern mathematics and it is difficult to overestimate its importance. I think it defines more unequivocally than anything…
• It is just as foolish to complain that people are selfish and treacherous as it is to complain that the magnetic field does not increase…
• You don't have to be responsible for the world that you're in.
• With four parameters I can fit an elephant, and with five I can make him wiggle his trunk.
• Kurt Godel's achievement in modern logic is singular and monumental - indeed it is more than a monument, it is a landmark which will remain…
• Any one who considers arithmetical methods of producing random digits is, of course, in a state of sin. For, as has been pointed out several…
• I would like to make a confession which may seem immoral: I do not believe in Hilbert space anymore.
• Technological possibilities are irresistible to man. If man can go to the moon, he will. If he can control the climate, he will.
• All stable processes we shall predict. All unstable processes we shall control.
• You insist that there is something a machine cannot do. If you tell me precisely what it is a machine cannot do, then I can…
• Problems are often stated in vague terms... because it is quite uncertain what the problems really are.
• It is exceptional that one should be able to acquire the understanding of a process without having previously acquired a deep familiarity with running it,…
• Neumann, to a physicist seeking help with a difficult problem: Simple. This can be solved by using the method of characteristics. Physicist: I'm afraid I…
• There's no sense in being precise when you don't even know what you're talking about.
• Anyone who attempts to generate random numbers by deterministic means is, of course, living in a state of sin.
• It would appear that we have reached the limits of what it is possible to achieve with computer technology, although one should be careful with…
• Anyone who considers arithmetical methods of producing random digits is, of course, in a state of sin.
• Young man, in mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them.
• If people do not believe that mathematics is simple, it is only because they do not realize how complicated life is.

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