"However impenetrable it seems, if you don't try it, then you can never do it."

“But what has made this problem special for amateurs is that there's a tiny possibility that there does exist an elegant 17th-century proof.”

“But perhaps that's always the way with math problems, and we just have to find new ones to capture our attention.”

“Fermat couldn't possibly have had this proof.”

“I know it's a rare privilege, but if one can really tackle something in adult life that means that much to you, then it's more rewarding than anything I can imagine.”

“Always try the problem that matters most to you.”

“But the best problem I ever found, I found in my local public library. I was just browsing through the section of math books and I found this one book, which was all about one particular problem -- Fermat's Last Theorem.”