As to the gods, I do not know whether they exist or not, nor what they are like in form; for there are many things that hinder sure knowledge, the obscurity of the matter and the shortness of human life.

I'm not perfect, but I'm trying.

That's exhilarating if you're doing well, and very crushing if you're not. It leads, in the worst cases -- in the analysis of a sociologist like Emil Durkheim -- it leads to increased rates of suicide. There are more suicides in developed, individualistic countries than in any other part of the world. And some of the reason for that is that people take what happens to them extremely personally -- they own their success, but they also own their failure.

Mathematics is a universal language that transcends cultural and linguistic barriers.