Try a hard problem. You may not solve it, but you will prove something else. — John Edensor Littlewood
The first lecture of each new year renews for most people a light stage fright. — John Edensor Littlewood
A precisian professor had the habit of saying: “… quartic polynomial ax^4+bx^3+ — John Edensor Littlewood
I listen only to Bach, Beethoven or Mozart. Life is too short to waste on other composers. — John Edensor Littlewood
I’ve been giving this lecture to first-year classes for over twenty-five years. — John Edensor Littlewood
I constantly meet people who are doubtful, generally without due reason, about — John Edensor Littlewood
A good mathematical joke is better, and better mathematics, than a dozen mediocre papers. — John Edensor Littlewood
The surprising thing about this paper is that a man who could write it would. — John Edensor Littlewood
Mathematics is a dangerous profession; an appreciable proportion of us go mad. — John Edensor Littlewood
