A proof is a way to convince yourself and others that something is true.

The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.

What I think I've been talking about really is success and failure. And one of the interesting things about success is that we think we know what it means. If I said that there's somebody behind the screen who's very successful, certain ideas would immediately come to mind. You'd think that person might have made a lot of money, achieved renown in some field. My own theory of success -- I'm somebody who's very interested in success, I really want to be successful, always thinking, how can I be more successful? But as I get older, I'm also very nuanced about what that word "success" might mean.

The true power of an algorithm is not in its speed or efficiency, but in its ability to reveal the hidden structures of the problems it addresses.