Galileo was no idiot. Only an idiot could believe that science requires martyrdom – that may be necessary in religion, but in time a scientific result will establish itself. – David Hilbert
Mathematical science is in my opinion an indivisible whole, an organism whose vitality is conditioned upon the connection of its parts. – David Hilbert
How thoroughly it is ingrained in mathematical science that every real advance goes hand in hand with the invention of sharper tools and simpler methods which, at the same time, assist in understanding earlier theories and in casting aside some more complicated developments. – David Hilbert
The further a mathematical theory is developed, the more harmoniously and uniformly does its construction proceed, and unsuspected relations are disclosed between hitherto separated branches of the science. – David Hilbert
Take particular care of your books…. When you lend a book to any one, make a memorandum of it before it leaves your house, and when it is returned cancel the entry. Every Passover and Tabernacles call in all your books that are out on loan. – Judah Ibn Tibbon, advice to son, quoted by Israel Abrahams, Jewish Life in the M