A Man Who Sets Out To Justify

Perhaps Five Or Even Ten Per Cent Of Men Can Do Something Rather Well. It Is A Tiny Minority Who Can Do Anything Really Well, And The Number Of Men Who Can Do Two Things Well Is Negligible. If A Man Has Any Genuine Talent, He Should Be Ready To Make Almost Any Sacrifice In Order To Cultivate It To The Full.

I Have Never Done Anything 'useful'. No Discovery Of Mine Has Made, Or Is Likely To Make, Directly Or Indirectly, For Good Or Ill, The Least Difference To The Amenity Of The World... Judged By All Practical Standards, The Value Of My Mathematical Life Is Nil; And Outside Mathematics It Is Trivial Anyhow. I Have Just One Chance Of Escaping A Verdict Of Complete Triviality, That I May Be Judged To Have Created Something Worth Creating. And That I Have Created Something Is Undeniable: The Question Is About Its Value.

[regarding Mathematics,] There Are Now Few Studies More Generally Recognized, For Good Reasons Or Bad, As Profitable And Praiseworthy. This May Be True; Indeed It Is Probable, Since The Sensational Triumphs Of Einstein, That Stellar Astronomy And Atomic Physics Are The Only Sciences Which Stand Higher In Popular Estimation.

Most People Can Do Nothing At All Well

If I Could Prove By Logic That You Would Die In Five Minutes, I Should Be Sorry You Were Going To Die, But My Sorrow Would Be Very Much Mitigated By Pleasure In The Proof.