"In the late 1980s Erdős heard of a promising high school student named Glen Whitney who wanted to study mathematics at Harvard but was a little short the tuition. Erdős arranged to see him and, convinced of the young man's talent, lent him $1,000. He asked Whitney to pay him back only when it would not cause financial strain. A decade later Graham heard from Whitney, who at last had the money to repay Erdős. "Did Erdős expect me to pay interest?" Whitney wondered. "What should I do?" he asked Graham. Graham talked to Erdős. "Tell him," Erdős said, "to do with the $1,000 what I did.""
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Paul Hoffman, in The Man Who Loved Only Numbers : The Story of Paul Erdős and the Search for Mathematical Truth (1998), p. 10
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paul_Erd%C5%91s
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Paul Erdős
41 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Paul Erdős →
Related Quotes
"If numbers aren't beautiful, I don't know what is."
"I think that, as , a very clever young Israeli mathematician, once said, "I am an opportunist. I do what I can do." I…"
"I'm not competent to judge. But no doubt he was a great man."
"Another roof, another proof."
"Suppose aliens invade the earth and threaten to obliterate it in a year's time unless human beings can find the Ramse…"
"Television is something the Russians invented to destroy American education."
"The SF created us to enjoy our suffering. … The sooner we die, the sooner we defy His plans."
"Some French socialist said that private property was theft … I say that private property is a nuisance."
"My brain is open!"
"It is not enough to be in the right place at the right time. You should also have an open mind at the right time."