How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from A Beautiful Mind.
Quote #4
SOL: Hey, Nash, I thought you'd dropped out. You ever going to go to class or…
JOHN: Classes will dull your mind. Destroy the potential for authentic creativity.
SOL: Oh, I didn't know that.
HANSEN: Nash is going to stun us all with his genius. Which is another way of saying he doesn't have the nerve to compete.
John's fellow students are also less than impressed by John's class-cutting ways. As you can see, John so doesn't care.
Quote #5
HANSEN: And I've got two weapons briefs under security review by the Department of Defense.
JOHN: Derivative drivel.
HANSEN: But Nash achievements: zero.
JOHN: I'm a patient man, Martin. Is there an actual question coming?
HANSEN: What if you never come up with your original idea? Huh? How will it feel when I'm chosen for Wheeler and you're not?
John's big rival in his graduate program, Hansen, kind of taunts John for his arrogance in thinking his search for a big idea is more important than what Hansen and others have doing while at Princeton. And of course, just to twist the knife, he tries to get John to consider the consequences of never finding that big idea.
Quote #6
PROFESSOR HELINGER: You do realize this flies in the face of a hundred and fifty years of economic theory?
JOHN: Yes, I do, sir.
PROFESSOR HELINGER: That's rather presumptuous, don't you think?
JOHN: It is, sir.
PROFESSOR HELINGER: Well, Mr. Nash, with a breakthrough of this magnitude, I'm confident you will get any placement you like.
Lucky for John, he does eventually have that big light bulb moment, and he indeed lights the world on fire with it. As a result, he gets his choice of lab placements, and his career seems pretty much set on an ideal path. That is, until he realizes he's sick.