The pendulum of mathematics swings back and forth towards abstraction and away from it with a timing that remains to be estimated.
Gian-Carlo RotaMathematicians - for what they do - are really poorly rewarded. And it's a very competitive field, almost as bad as being a concert pianist.
Gian-Carlo Rota[In mathematics] There are two kinds of mistakes. There are fatal mistakes that destroy a theory, but there are also contingent ones, which are useful in testing the stability of a theory.
Gian-Carlo Rota