I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success... Such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything.
Nikola Tesla
I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it is much more interesting to live not knowing than have answers which might be wrong. I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of certainty about different things; but I am not absolutely sure of anything and of many things I do not know anything about; such as whether it means anything to ask why we are here and what the question might mean.
Richard Feynman
Here's Peter Norvig's list.
- On the Hardness of Important Things
- Richard Feynman Didn't Win a Nobel by Responding Promptly to E-mails
A letter that Albert Einstein wrote to his son Hans Albert in the fall of 1915...
"To do real good physics work, you do need absolute solid lengths of time...it needs a lot of concentration...if you have a job administrating anything, you don't have the time. So I have invented another myth for myself: that I'm irresponsible. I'm actively irresponsible. I tell everyone I don't anything. If anyone asks me to be on a committee for admissions, 'no,' I tell them: I'm irresponsible."