John von Neumann quotes

John von Neumann was a Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, and computer science pioneer. His groundbreaking work influenced areas such as quantum mechanics, game theory, and the development of early computers. He left a profound legacy in mathematics, technology, and science. Here are 34 of his quotes:

In mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them. (John von Neumann)
There probably is a God. Many things are easier to explain if there is than if there isn't. View quote
John von Neumann
You wake me up early in the morning to tell me that I'm right? Please wait until I'm wrong. View quote
John von Neumann
You don't have to be responsible for the world that you're in. View quote
John von Neumann
If people do not believe that mathematics is simple, it is only because they do not realize how complicated life is. View quote
John von Neumann
With four parameters I can fit an elephant, and with five I can make him wiggle his trunk. View quote
John von Neumann
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 unless the electric field has a curl. Both are laws of nature. View quote
John von Neumann
If one has really technically penetrated a subject, things that previously seemed in complete contrast, might be purely mathematical transformations of each other. View quote
John von Neumann
When we talk mathematics, we may be discussing a secondary language built on the primary language of the nervous system. View quote
John von Neumann
There is no point in being precise if you do not even know what you are talking about. View quote
John von Neumann
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 else the inception of modern mathematics; and the system of mathematical analysis, which is its logical development, still constitutes the greatest technical advance in exact thinking. (John von Neumann)
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 such statements, as they tend to sound pretty silly in 5 years. View quote
John von Neumann
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, with using it, before one has assimilated it in an instinctive and empirical way... Thus any discussion of the nature of intellectual effort in any field is difficult, unless it presupposes an easy, routine familiarity with that field. In mathematics this limitation becomes very severe. View quote
John von Neumann
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 which, with the addition of certain verbal interpretations, describes observed phenomena. The justification of such a mathematical construct is solely and precisely that it is expected to work. View quote
John von Neumann
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 always make a machine which will do just that. View quote
John von Neumann
Anyone who attempts to generate random numbers by deterministic means is, of course, living in a state of sin. View quote
John von Neumann
Any one who considers arithmetical methods of producing random digits is, of course, in a state of sin. View quote
John von Neumann
A large part of mathematics which becomes useful developed with absolutely no desire to be useful, and in a situation where nobody could possibly know in what area it would become useful; and there were no general indications that it ever would be so. View quote
John von Neumann
The goys have proven the following theorem... View quote
John von Neumann
Some people confess guilt to claim credit for the sin. View quote
John von Neumann
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 times, there is no such thing as a random number - there are only methods to produce random numbers, and a strict arithmetic procedure of course is not such a method. (John von Neumann)
If you say why not bomb them tomorrow, I say why not today? If you say today at five o' clock, I say why not one o' clock? View quote
John von Neumann
The emphasis on mathematical methods seems to be shifted more towards combinatorics and set theory - and away from the algorithm of differential equations which dominates mathematical physics. View quote
John von Neumann
Computers are like humans - they do everything except think. View quote
John von Neumann
Truth is much too complicated to allow anything but approximations. View quote
John von Neumann