A Jean Bourgain quote

“If you have a question which is generally perceived as unapproachable, it’s often you don’t even quite know where to look to find a solution. From that point of view, we are . . . stranded in the desert, hopelessly lost. At the moment you get this insight, all of a sudden you’ll escape the desert and things open up for you. Then we feel very excited. These are the best moments. They make all the suffering, with absolutely no progress, they really make it worth it.” (SOURCE: Jean Bourgain, problem solver by Terence Chi-Shen Tao - PNAS 116 (28) 13717-13718 June 17, 2019,  https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1901965116)