Shakuntala Devi

I have been running maths clubs for children completely free. In my building in Bangalore, I conduct maths clubs for several months, and every child who attended the club was poor in mathematics and is now showing brilliant results.

Nobody challenges me. I challenge myself.

Knowing more about numbers and being acquainted with them will not only enrich our lives but also contribute towards managing our day to day affairs much better.

I don't even possess a car. I ride in auto-rickshaws because I like to be a part of the masses. I don't want to single myself out as someone up and above.

Without mathematics, there's nothing you can do. Everything around you is mathematics. Everything around you is numbers.

I have a particular affection for zero because it was some of my countrymen who first gave it the status of a number.

At three, I fell in love with numbers. It was sheer ecstasy for me to do sums and get the right answers. Numbers were toys with which I could play.

I was performing at a New Jersey high school, and I asked a class of 2,000 students, 'How many of you love mathematics?' and only one hand went up. And that was the hand of the maths teacher!

I have written a book called 'In the Wonderland of Numbers.' It's about a young girl, Neha, who is very poor in mathematics, but in a series of illusory experiences, she becomes a great mathematician.

Many go through life afraid of numbers and upset by numbers. They would rather amble along through life miscounting, miscalculating and, in general, mismanaging their worldly affairs than make friends with numbers.

Numbers have life; they're not just symbols on paper.

Education is not just about going to school and getting a degree. It's about widening your knowledge and absorbing the truth about life.