Guided only by their feeling for symmetry, simplicity, and generality, and an indefinable sense of the fitness of things, creative mathematicians now, as in the past, are inspired by the art of mathematics rather than by any prospect of ultimate usefulness.
Eric Temple BellEven stranger things have happened; and perhaps the strangest of all is the marvel that mathematics should be possible to a race akin to the apes.
Eric Temple BellGalois read the geometry from cover to cover as easily as other boys read a pirate yarn.
Eric Temple BellAny impatient student of mathematics or science or engineering who is irked by having algebraic symbolism thrust upon him should try to get along without it for a week.
Eric Temple Bell