If I had inherited a fortune I should probably not have cast my lot with mathematics.
Joseph-Louis LagrangeI regarded as quite useless the reading of large treatises of pure analysis: too large a number of methods pass at once before the eyes. It is in the works of application that one must study them; one judges their utility there and appraises the manner of making use of them.
Joseph-Louis LagrangeAs long as algebra and geometry have been separated, their progress have been slow and their uses limited; but when these two sciences have been united, they have lent each mutual forces, and have marched together towards perfection.
Joseph-Louis LagrangeIt took the mob only a moment to remove his head; a century will not suffice to reproduce it.
Joseph-Louis Lagrange