"In many cases, mathematics is an escape from reality. The mathematician finds his own monastic niche and happiness in pursuits that are disconnected from external affairs. Some practice it as if using a drug. Chess sometimes plays a similar role. In their unhappiness over the events of this world, some immerse themselves in a kind of self-sufficiency in mathematics. (Some have engaged in it for this reason alone.)"

Source : "Adventures of a Mathematician". Book by Stanislaw Ulam, 3rd edition. Chapter 6: "Transition And Crisis", p. 120, 1991.

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