Found a collection of lectures by the late P.A.M. Dirac, some mid-70s seminars he gave in New Zealand.

"It was a good description to say that it was a game,
a very interesting game one could play. Whenever one solved
one of the little problems, one could write a paper about it.
It was very easy in those days for any second-rate physicist
to do first-rate work. There has not been such a glorious time
since then. It is very difficult now for a first-rate physicist
to do second-rate work."