There seems to be a general assumption that brilliant people cannot stand routine ; that they need a varied , exciting life in order to do their best . It is also assumed that dull people are particularly suited for dull work . We are told that the reason the present-day young complain so loudly about the dullness of jobs is that they are better educated and brighter than the young of the past . 

Actually , there is no evidence that people who achieve a lot desire , let alone live , colorful lives . The opposite is nearer the truth . Einstein worked out his theory of relativity while serving as a clerk in a Swiss patent office . Immanuel Kant's daily life was a dull routine . The housewives of Konigsberg set their clocks when they saw him pass , on his way to the university . He took the same walk each morning , rain or shine . The greatest distance Kant ever traveled was sixty miles from Konigsberg . 

It may be true that work on the assembly line dulls the abilities and empties the mind , and the cure is only fewer hours of work at higher pay . But during fifty years as a workingman , I have found dull routine coexisting with an active mind . While doing dull , repetitive work by the water , I could talk with my partners and compose sentences in my mind , all at the same time . Chances are that had my work been too interesting I could not have done any thinking and composing at work or even on my own time after returning from work . 

People who find dull jobs unbearable are often dull people who do not know what to do with themselves at leisure . Children and mature people will get used to dull routine , while the adolescent , who has lost the child's ability for concentration and is without the inner resources of the mature , needs excitement and novelty to get rid of boredom .

Now, provide a numbered list of answers to these questions:

1. Who needs excitement and novelty?
2. What is the general assumption?
3. What else?
4. Do you think it is true?
5. What is true
6. Who is someone that proves this?
7. How?
8. How long did the author work?
9. What did he find out?
10. What could he do while working?
11. What else?
12. What does he say about people that find dull jobs bad?
13. Who can get use to it?

Numbered answers:
1. adolescent
2. brilliant people cannot stand routine
3. dull people are particularly suited for dull work
4. No
5. The opposite
6. Einstein
7. worked out his theory of relativity while serving as a clerk in a Swiss patent office
8. fifty years
9. dull routine coexists with an active mind
10. I could talk with my partners
11. compose sentences in my mind
12. dull people who do not know what to do with themselves at leisure
13. Children and mature people