“There is an underlying timelessness in the basic conversation that is mathematics.”

Sometimes a line of mathematical research extending through decades can be thought of as one long conversation in which many mathematicians take part. This is fortunately true at present.

Mathematical objects are determined by – and understood by – the network of relationships they enjoy with all the other objects of their species.

The proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem underscores how stable mathematics is through the centuries – how mathematics is one of humanity’s long continuous conversations with itself.

They range over many delicious topics, giving us an enchanting personal view of the history and practice of magic, of mathematics, and of the fascinating connection between the two cultures. Magical Mathematics will have an utterly devoted readership.

This is a wonderful book, unique and engaging. Diaconis and Graham manage to convey the awe and marvels of mathematics, and of magic tricks, especially those that depend fundamentally on mathematical ideas.

I want to put my soul into the music and still be who I am when it comes to an actual conversation.

A conversation isn’t a competition.

Atheism is just a way of clearing the space for better conversations.

A conversation does not have to be scintillating in order to be memorable. I once met a president of the United States, and his second sentence to me was about knees.

Two people in a conversation amount to four people talking. The four are what one person says, what he really wanted to say, what his listener heard, and what he thought he heard.

I guess the best advice I ever got or anyone could get for doing a talk show, though it has not been easy very often, was from Jack Paar, who said, ‘Kid, don’t make it an interview. Interviews have clipboards, and you’re like David Frost. Make it a conversation.’

Instead of yielding to idle conversation it might profit one to cultivate silence and contemplation.

Of course you cannot compare my Hindi with a Hindi-speaking person, but I am confident enough to hold a conversation in mixed Hindi-English.