A “good theorem,” as Tate puts it, lasts forever. Once proved, it will — John Tate

"It doesnt matter how long it takes, if the end result is a good theorem."

"Since I was a teenager I had an interest in number theory. Fortunately, I came across a good number theory book by L. E. Dickson, so I knew a little number theory. Also I had been reading Bell’s histories of people like Gauss. I liked number theory. It’s natural, in a way, because many wonderful problems and theorems in number theory can be explained to any interested high-school student. Number theory is easier to get into in that sense. But of course it depends on one’s intuition and taste also."