“The Exclusion Principle is laid down purely for the benefit of the electrons themselves, who might be corrupted (and become dragons or demons) if allowed to associate too freely.”

Mathematical reasoning may be regarded.

Up to a point, it is better to just let the snags [bugs] be there than to spend such time in design that there are none.

Instead of trying to produce a programme to simulate the adult mind, why not rather try to produce one which simulates the child’s? If this were then subjected to an appropriate course of education one would obtain the adult brain.

I’m afraid that the following syllogism may be used by some in the future. Turing believes machines think Turing lies with men Therefore machines do not think Yours in distress, Alan.

My little computer said such a funny thing this morning.

I believe that at the end of the century the use of words and general educated opinion will have altered so much that one will be able to speak of machines thinking without expecting to be contradicted.

Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine.

Do you know why people like violence? It is because it feels good. Humans find violence deeply satisfying. But remove the satisfaction, and the act becomes hollow.

We are not interested in the fact that the brain has the consistency of cold porridge.

These disturbing phenomena [Extra Sensory Perception] seem to deny all our scientific ideas. How we should like to discredit them! Unfortunately the statistical evidence, at least for telepathy, is overwhelming.

One day ladies will take their computers for walks in the park and tell each other, “My little computer said such a funny thing this morning”.

Machines take me by surprise with great frequency.

A very large part of space-time must be investigated, if reliable results are to be obtained.

We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.

A man provided with paper, pencil, and rubber, and subject to strict discipline, is in effect a universal machine.

The original question, ‘Can machines think?’ I believe to be too meaningless to deserve discussion.

Freedom means the capability to say yes when yes is needed, to say no when no is needed, and sometimes to keep quiet when nothing is needed – to be silent, not to say anything. When all these dimensions are available, there is freedom.

We have not come here to take prisoners But to surrender ever more deeply To freedom and joy.

I can never forget that one of the most gifted, best educated nations in the world, of its own free will, surrendered its fate into the hands of a maniac.

It is doubtful whether the oppressed ever fight for freedom. They fight for pride and power-power to oppress others.

The end of knowledge is wisdom The end of culture is perfection The end of wisdom is freedom The end of education is character. And character consists of eagerness to renounce one’s selfish greed.

Time is a factory where everyone slaves away earning enough love to break their own chains.

Hula-hooping. It makes me feel free. My stepsister introduced me to it. I used to have panic attacks all the time, and she hula-hooped to cope with her own anxiety.

But restraint is the only one sort of control, and absence of restraint isn’t freedom. It’s not control that’s lacking when one feels ‘free’, but the objectionable control of force.