Might be just another Eselei of Einstein to say that, init? Sure he can go and say that, and the former is a widely held believe, but he got nothing on pythagoreans, does he? If numbers were surreal, what are we talking about then? If they are just in our imagination, what isn't? Where did he say that? Also, a tree has more than branches. Religion is like a rotten root or some other evil imagery, if you will.

Edit: maybe he was a nihilist, I'd tolerate nil as the only non quantitative number. Sorry for the rant, but that's what you get for anecdotal evidence.