I was so obsessed by this problem that I was thinking about it

Andrew Wiles, the quiet conqueror of one of mathematics’ greatest mysteries, once confessed: “I was so obsessed by this problem that I was thinking about it all the time — when I woke up in the morning, when I went to sleep at night — and that went on for eight years.” These words are not merely the testimony of a scholar, but the hymn of a warrior of the mind, one who gave his entire soul to a single battle. For the problem he speaks of was no trivial riddle, but Fermat’s Last Theorem — a challenge that defied the genius of men for more than three centuries.

The ancients would have seen in Wiles the figure of the hero driven by destiny. Just as Odysseus longed endlessly for Ithaca, or Archimedes cried “Eureka!” after years of thought, so did Wiles devote every breath, every morning and night, to the pursuit of truth. Obsession, in this sense, is not madness, but a sacred fire, the kind that consumes weakness and leaves only the purity of focus. Such fire is the origin of all great discoveries, the unseen power that drives men to climb impossible mountains.

History has often been shaped by such relentless devotion. Consider Michelangelo, who spent years upon his back painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, seeing visions in stone and color when others saw only exhaustion. Or Thomas Edison, who tested thousands of filaments before the light of electricity was born. Like Wiles, they were possessed by their problem, unable to rest until it yielded its secret. Their triumphs remind us that greatness is not won by casual effort, but by sustained and unyielding pursuit.

Yet Wiles’ words also reveal the cost of such devotion. To be consumed for eight years by a single pursuit is to forgo ease, to sacrifice diversions, to live as one apart. He speaks of his obsession not with complaint, but with recognition of its weight. For to be bound to an idea so completely is both gift and burden — gift, because it allows the mind to pierce mysteries; burden, because it isolates, exhausts, and tests the very limits of human endurance. Thus the path of the obsessed is not for the faint of heart, but for those willing to give everything.

There is, however, triumph in his story. After those years of solitude and labor, Wiles stood before the world and unveiled the proof that had eluded generations. His obsession bore fruit, not only for himself, but for all of mathematics. What once was a whisper in the margin of a book became a monument of human perseverance. His eight years remind us that the longest struggles, when endured with faith and discipline, yield the sweetest victories.

The lesson for us is clear: choose your problem wisely, and if it is worthy, give yourself to it fully. Let it wake you in the morning and accompany you into the night. But remember also that such obsession must be guided by purpose. Do not give your life to pursuits that fade like dust, but to those that build, enlighten, and endure. For the years of devotion are many, and the burden heavy; only a noble goal makes the weight worth bearing.

So, O children of tomorrow, take Andrew Wiles’ words as both a challenge and a blessing. Find that which calls to you, that which seizes your spirit so completely you cannot let it go. Then pursue it with patience, with courage, with the strength to endure years of struggle. For in that sacred obsession, when the world is forgotten and only the goal remains, you may discover the same truth Wiles found: that through relentless pursuit, the impossible yields, and mankind steps forward into new light.