KESTENBAUM:Do you believe in God?

Mr. KNUTH:
Oh, yes, I do. I mean, I felt a call to write this book in some sense. It was something that I think would be bad if it could be proved because then I wouldn't have to think about God anymore.

KESTENBAUM: You mean if it could be proved that God existed?

Mr. KNUTH:
Yeah. If there was a proof, you know, OK, I'd memorize the proof and then I'd go on, you know, and forget about it. So the fact that there's a mystery there challenging, you know, it actually has deep meanings for me fairly often.