[801]. The real mathematician is an enthusiast per se. Without enthusiasm no mathematics.—Novalis.
Schriften (Berlin, 1901), Zweiter Teil, p. 223.
[802]. It is true that a mathematician, who is not somewhat of a poet, will never be a perfect mathematician.—Weierstrass.
Quoted by Mittag-Leffler; Compte rendu du deuxième congrês international des mathématiciens (Paris, 1902), p. 149.
[803]. The mathematician is perfect only in so far as he is a perfect being, in so far as he perceives the beauty of truth; only then will his work be thorough, transparent, comprehensive, pure, clear, attractive and even elegant. All this is necessary to resemble Lagrange.—Goethe.
Wilhelm Meister’s Wanderjahre, Zweites Buch; Sprüche in Prosa; Natur, VI, 950.
[804]. A thorough advocate in a just cause, a penetrating mathematician facing the starry heavens, both alike bear the semblance of divinity.—Goethe.
Wilhelm Meister’s Wanderjahre, Zweites Buch; Sprüche in Prosa; Natur, VI, 947.
[805]. Mathematicians practice absolute freedom.—Adams, Henry.
A Letter to American Teachers of History (Washington, 1910), p. 169.