The pursuit of pretty formulas and neat theorems can no doubt quickly degenerate into a silly vice, but so can the quest for austere generalities which are so very general indeed that they are incapable of application to any particular.
Eric Temple BellGalois read the geometry from cover to cover as easily as other boys read a pirate yarn.
Eric Temple BellGuided 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 BellEuclid taught me that without assumptions there is no proof. Therefore, in any argument, examine the assumptions.
Eric Temple Bell