John Edensor Littlewood

“It was Mr. Littlewood (I believe) who remarked that "every positive integer was one of his personal friends."”

“A good mathematical joke is better, and better mathematics, than a dozen mediocre papers.”

“'The surprising thing about this paper is that a man who could write it--would.'”

“I read in the proof-sheets of Hardy on Ramanujan: 'As someone said, each of the positive integers was one of his personal friends.' My reaction was, 'I wonder who said that; I wish I had.' In the next proof-sheets I read (what now stands): 'It was Littlewood who said...' (What had happened was that Hardy had received the remark in silence and with a poker face, and I wrote it off as a dud....)”

“I recall once saying that when I had given the same lecture several times I couldn't help feeling that they really ought to know it by now.”