André Weil

1906–1998

French mathematician

Every mathematician worthy of the name has experienced…the state of lucid exaltation in which one thought succeeds another as if miraculously…this feeling may last for hours at a time, even for days. Once you have experienced it, you are eager to repeat it but unable to do it at will, unless perhaps by dogged work....

TOPICS: mathematicians

SOURCE: The Apprenticeship of a Mathematician