Reinhard Selten Quotations

My first contact with game theory was a popular article in 'Fortune Magazine' which I read in my last high school year. I was immediately attracted to the subject matter, and when I studied mathematics, I found the fundamental book by von Neumann and Morgenstern in the library and studied it.

When I was born, my father owned a business called a 'reading circle'; folders containing an assortment of magazines were lent to customers for one week, then recollected and lent out again. The older the folder, the lower was the fee. This was a flourishing branch of industry.

When I finished high school, it was clear to me that I would study mathematics, even if I also considered economics and psychology.

It's very productive scientifically; I often get some very good ideas for my research while hiking.

I did several types of work about several investigations of application of game theory to international relations.

If somebody is young and brilliant and imaginative, he will be listened to, even if he is a little unorthodox.

I was born in Breslau on October 5th, 1930. At that time, Breslau, now called Wroclaw, belonged to Germany, and only German was spoken there. After the Second World War, Breslau became Polish, and the original German population was almost completely replaced by a Polish one. I have never visited Wroclaw after the war.