I tried to fit it in with some previous broad conceptual understanding of some part of mathematics that would clarify the particular problem I was thinking about.

The definition of a good mathematical problem is the mathematics it generates rather than the problem itself.

There was no one in particular I really tried to copy.

That particular odyssey is now over. My mind is now at rest.

It wasn't until '94 when I tried to commit suicide that I realized that it wasn't about the money.

Some mathematics problems look simple, and you try them for a year or so, and then you try them for a hundred years, and it turns out that they're extremely hard to solve. There's no reason why these problems shouldn't be easy, and yet they turn out to be extremely intricate.