Of all escapes from reality, Mathematics is the most successful ever. It is a fantasy that becomes all the more addictive because it works back to improve the same reality we are trying to evade. All other escapes — sex, drugs, hobbies, whatever — are ephemeral by comparison. The mathematician’s feeling of triumph, as he/she forces the world to obey the laws his/her imagination has created feeds on its own success. The world is permanently changed by the workings of his/her mind, and the certainty that his/her creations will endure renews his/her confidence as no other pursuit.

— Gian-Carlo Rota, an MIT Mathematician.