Differential equations won't help you much in the design of aeroplanes — not yet, anyhow. - Nevil Shute

His agitation was subsiding; already he was becoming aware that he had not got it in him to make these men believe that what he said was true. He had had so much of this in the past; he was accustomed to being right and being disbelieved on vital issues. It was what happened to him; other people could put across their convictions and win credence, but he had never been able to do that. Now it was happening again.

He was like a little boy let loose in a toy shop, uncertain which of the attractive treasures to pick up first.

He was a dark-haired, fresh-faced boy of twenty-one or twenty-two, who adopted the pose that everything was a joke and nothing really mattered.