Israel Nathan Herstein. 1923-1988. Mathematician

"The value of a problem is not so much coming up with the answer as in the ideas and attempted ideas it forces on the would be solver."
I. N. Herstein, quoted in Out of the Mouths of Mathematicians, by R. Schmalz.



"Very often in mathematics the crucial problem is to recognize and discover what are the relevant concepts; once this is accomplished the job may be more than half done."
I. N. Herstein, from Contemporary Abstract Algebra, by J. Gallian.