A standard greeting he would make when he was not contemplating some mathematical problem, as quoted in My Brain Is Open : The Mathematical Journeys of Paul Erdos (1998) by Bruce Schechter, p. 10
“Be open minded, but not so open minded that your brains fall out.”
“It pays to keep an open mind, but not so open your brains fall out.”
“By all means let's be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.”
The Enemies of Reason, "The Irrational Health Service" [1.02], 20 August 2007, timecode 00:13:05"ff"
The Enemies of Reason (August 2007)
Variant: We should be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brain falls out.
“I told my brain., said my brain. My brain refused to get out of my head. Inconsiderate brain.”
Source: The Hammer of Thor
“If you're too open-minded; your brains will fall out.”
Source: Howl and Other Poems
“Open your eyelids, will you all, and let your brains leave sleep behind.”
Pandite sultis genas et corde relinquite somnum.
As quoted by Festus, in De verborum significatione (Loeb translation)
Some Reasons Why (1881)
Context: Suppose then, that I do read this Bible honestly, fairly, and when I get through I am compelled to say, “The book is not true.” If this is the honest result, then you are compelled to say, either that God has made no revelation to me, or that the revelation that it is not true, is the revelation made to me, and by which I am bound. If the book and my brain are both the work of the same Infinite God, whose fault is it that the book and the brain do not agree? Either God should have written a book to fit my brain, or should have made my brain to fit his book.
