When life was at its worst for me and I was extremely depressed and stressed, the big thing that kept me going was knowing that everybody expected me to fail and give up. I wanted to make it through if nothing more than to prove everyone's expectations wrong. I think it's our ability to draw motivation from obscure sources like that that gets us through the tough times.
Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own - Bertrand Russell
