Carl Friedrich Gauss

To such idle talk

To such idle talk it might further be added: that whenever a certain exclusive occupation is coupled with specific shortcomings, it is likewise almost certainly divorced from certain other shortcomings. Carl Friedrich Gauss

…as our friend Zach

…as our friend Zach has often noted, in our days those who do the best for astronomy are not the salaried university professors, but so-called dillettanti, physicians, jurists, and so forth.Lamenting the fragmentary time left to a professor has remaining after fulfilling his teaching duties. Carl Friedrich Gauss

My young friend, I

My young friend, I wish that science would intoxicate you as much as our good Göttingen beer! Upon seeing a student staggering down a street. Carl Friedrich Gauss

I have the vagary

I have the vagary of taking a lively interest in mathematical subjects only where I may anticipate ingenious association of ideas and results recommending themselves by elegance or generality. Carl Friedrich Gauss

To praise it would

To praise it would amount to praising myself. For the entire content of the work… coincides almost exactly with my own meditations which have occupied my mind for the past thirty or thirty-five years. Carl Friedrich Gauss

To the distracting occupations

To the distracting occupations belong especially my lecture courses which I am holding this winter for the first time, and which now cost much more of my time than I like. Meanwhile I hope that the second time this expenditure of time will be much less, otherwise I would never be able to reconcile myself … Read more

In the last two

In the last two months I have been very busy with my own mathematical speculations, which have cost me much time, without my having reached my original goal. Again and again I was enticed by the frequently interesting prospects from one direction to the other, sometimes even by will-o’-the-wisps, as is not rare in mathematic … Read more

It may be true,

It may be true, that men, who are mere mathematicians, have certain specific shortcomings, but that is not the fault of mathematics, for it is equally true of every other exclusive occupation. Carl Friedrich Gauss

The problem of distinguishing

The problem of distinguishing prime numbers from composite numbers and of resolving the latter into their prime factors is known to be one of the most important and useful in arithmetic. It has engaged the industry and wisdom of ancient and modern geometers to such an extent that it would be superfluous to discuss the … Read more

In mathematics there are

In mathematics there are no true controversies. Carl Friedrich Gauss