"Erdős knows about more problems than anybody else, and he not only knows about various problems and conjectures, but he also knows the tastes of various mathematicians. So if I get a letter from him giving me three of his conjectures and two of his problems, then it's sure that these are exactly the kind of conjectures and problems I'm interested in, and these are exactly the kind of questions I may be able to answer. Of course, this applies not only to me, but to everybody else. So Erdős has an amazing ability to match problems with people. Which is why so many mathematicians benefit from his presence. Every letter is likely to inspire you to do some work, or every phone call will give you some problems you are interested in."
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Béla Bollobás, of Trinity College, University of Cambridge in N Is a Number: A Portrait of Paul Erdős (1993)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paul_Erd%C5%91s
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Paul Erdős
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