"I had this rare privilege of being able to pursue in my adult life, what had been my childhood dream."

Andrew Wiles Mathematics See all quotes by Andrew Wiles →

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“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.”

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

Resonant Thoughts

"The failure described in Being and Nothingness is definitive, but it is also ambiguous. Man, Sartre tells us, is “a being who makes himself a lack of being in order that there might be being.” That me…"

— Simone de Beauvoir

Philosophy1908–1986

#philosophy

"I am convinced that each work of art, be it a great work of genius or something very small, has its own life, and it will come to the artist, the composer or the writer or the painter, and say, "Here …"

— Madeleine L'Engle

Literature1918–2007

#life

"In countries and epochs in which communication is impeded, soon all other liberties wither; discussion dies by inanition, ignorance of the opinion of others becomes rampant, imposed opinions triumph. …"

— Primo Levi

Science1919–1987

#life

"Do you see this egg? With this you can topple every theological theory, every church or temple in the world. What is it, this egg, before the seed is introduced into it? An insentient mass. And after …"

— Denis Diderot

Philosophy1713–1784

#life