The difficult is what takes a little time; the impossible is what takes a little longer said Fridtj of Nansen who personally repatriated more than 400 000 prisoners of war after World War I & helped save millions of Russians from starvation. Albert Einstein prudently advised Not everything that counts can be counted & not everything that can be counted counts & Cseslaw Milosz warned In a room where people unanimously maintain a conspiracy of silence one word of truth sounds like a pistol shot. Since 1901 the Nobel Prize has been the hallmark of genius but Nobel laureates tend to be more than merely brilliant
- their idealism courage & concern for humanity have also made them sources of inspiration & wisdom. Contrary to the notion that geniuses are absentminded eccentrics many Nobel laureates have been social activists & political leaders & some have been polymaths whose interests & talents were diverse such as Philip Noel-Baker winner of the 1959 Peace Prize who ran in three Olympic Games. The"ations here are grouped by such themes as achievement truth & falsehood war & conflict technology & most have never been anthologised previously.