Neither a work of nature nor one of art we get to know when they have been finished; we must surprise them in the process of beingcreated so as to understand them to some degree.

Everything that we encounter leaves traces behind. Everything contributes imperceptibly to our education

Die Mathematiker sind eine Art Franzosen. Spricht man zu ihnen, so übersetzen sie alles in ihre eigene Sprache, und so wird es alsobald etwas ganz anderes. Mathematicians are a kind of Frenchmen. Whenever you say anything or talk to them, they translate it into their own language, and right away it is something completely different.

Properly speaking, such work is never finished; one must declare it so when, according to time and circumstances, one has done one's best.

The world cannot do without great men, but great men are very troublesome to the world.

Our wishes are presentiments of the abilities that lie in us, harbingers of what we will be able to accomplish.

The works of Lavoisier and his associates operated upon many of us at that time like the Sun's rising after a night of moonshine: but Chemistry is now betrothed to the Mathematics, and is in consequence grown somewhat shy of her former admirers.