I think it is possible for ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary.
"The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it."
Every problem in mathematics is a puzzle waiting to be solved, and the joy is in the solving.
I don't believe in pessimism. If something doesn't come up the way you want, forge ahead. If you think it's going to rain, it will.
The study of Galois representations is a key to unlocking the mysteries of the Langlands program.