“Why is it that no one understands me and everybody likes me”

“One had to cram all this stuff into one's mind for the examinations, whether one liked it or not. This coercion had such a deterring effect on me that, after I had passed the final examination, I found the consideration of any scientific problems distasteful to me for an entire year.”

“I was very pleased with your kind letter. Until now I never dreamed of being something like a hero. But since you've given me the nomination I feel that I am one.”

“People like you and me never grow old. We never cease to stand like curious children before the great mystery into which we were born.”

“One must divide one's time between politics and equations. But our equations are much more important to me, because politics is for the present, while our equations are for eternity.”

“The Revolution introduced me to art, and in turn, art introduced me to the Revolution!”

“To punish me for my contempt for authority, fate made me an authority myself.”