Speaking of the Manhattan telephone book he [John von Neuman] said once that he knew all the numbers in it—the only other thing he needed, to be able to dispense with the book altogether, was to know the names that the numbers belonged to.
— Paul Halmos, quoted in Erik Hoel, John von Neumann Shot Lightning From His Arse (The Intrinsic Perspective, 12 November 2025)
Out of Context 