Good Work Is Not Done By 'humble'

No Mathematician Should Ever Allow Him To Forget That Mathematics, More Than Any Other Art Or Science, Is A Young Man's Game. ... Galois Died At Twenty-one, Abel At Twenty-seven, Ramanujan At Thirty-three, Riemann At Forty. There Have Been Men Who Have Done Great Work Later; ... [but] I Do Not Know Of A Single Instance Of A Major Mathematical Advance Initiated By A Man Past Fifty. ... A Mathematician May Still Be Competent Enough At Sixty, But It Is Useless To Expect Him To Have Original Ideas.

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.

No Mathematician Should Ever Allow Himself To Forget That Mathematics, More Than Any Other Art Or Science, Is A Young Man's Game

The Fact Is There Are Few More Popular Subjects Than Mathematics. Most People Have Some Appreciation Of Mathematics, Just As Most People Can Enjoy A Pleasant Tune.

A Mathematician, Like A Painter Or A Poet, Is A Maker Of Patterns.