Alain Connes' advice to the beginner

In this brief essay he comes out with several gems. For example, he compares mathematicians to fermions and physicists to bosons. Here is what he says:
...and in general mathematicians tend to behave like fermions
i.e. avoid working in areas which are too trendy whereas
physicists behave a lot more like bosons which coalesce
in large packs and are often "overselling" their doings,
an attitude which mathematicians despise.

Elsewhere he emphasizes the importance of long walks and lying down. Here is his take on lying down:
Mathematicians usually have a hard time explaining to their
partner that the times when they work with most intensity
is when they are lying down in the dark on a sofa.