“Work, look for peace and calm in work — you will find it nowhere else, and the pleasure of searching is the real reward.”
— Дмитрий Менделеев
From Mendeleev's personal letters and notebooks, frequently quoted in Russian scientific literature. Reflects his philosophy that systematic labor, not inspiration, produces results.
I arranged sixty-three elements over the course of days, moving cards around on a table like a man playing solitaire with the building blocks of the universe. When the pattern finally appeared, I did not celebrate. I sat down and checked the math. The pleasure was never in the discovery. It was in the searching. The table came from work, not from dreaming.