The power of mathematics is often to change one thing into another, to change geometry into language.
The reason why we do maths is because it's like poetry. It's about patterns, and that really turned me on. It made me feel that maths was in tune with the other things I liked doing.
Mathematics has beauty and romance. It's not a boring place to be, the mathematical world. It's an extraordinary place; it's worth spending time there.
When people ask me what my religion is, I say it's the Arsenal.
I think science is a foreign land for many people, so I think of my role as an ambassador's job.