Biot, who assisted Laplace in revising it [The Mรฉcanique Cรฉleste] for the press, says that Laplace himself was frequently unable to recover the details in the chain of reasoning, and if satisfied that the conclusions were correct, he was content to insert the constantly recurring formula, 'Il est ร isรฉ a voir' [it is easy to see].
W. W. Rouse BallFor other great mathematicians or philosophers, he [Gauss] used the epithets magnus, or clarus, or clarissimus; for Newton alone he kept the prefix summus.
W. W. Rouse Ball'My dear friend, that must be a delusion, what can a circle have to do with the number of people alive at a given time?'
W. W. Rouse BallThroughout his life Newton must have devoted at least as much attention to chemistry and theology as to mathematics.
W. W. Rouse BallBabbage ... gave the name to the [Cambridge] Analytical Society, which he stated was formed to advocate 'the principles of pure d-ism as opposed to the dot-age of the university.'
W. W. Rouse BallForeshadowings of the principles and even of the language of [the infinitesimal] calculus can be found in the writings of Napier, Kepler, Cavalieri, Pascal, Fermat, Wallis, and Barrow. It was Newton's good luck to come at a time when everything was ripe for the discovery, and his ability enabled him to construct almost at once a complete calculus.
W. W. Rouse Ball