Archimedes. 287-212 BC Greek mathematician, engineer, and physicist. Soldier, stand away from my diagram. Banach Stefan.

1892-19 ! A mathematician is a person who can find ana"#gies between the#rems, a better mathematician is one who can see ana"#gies between pr##fs and the best mathematician can notice ana"#gies between the#ries. One can imagine that the ultimate mathematician is one who can see ana"#gies between ana"#gies. C#ctea$, %ean. 1891&-19'(. )rench m#dernist a$th#r. The composer opens the cage door for arithmetic, the draftsman gives ge#metry its freed#m. *escartes, +en,. 1!9'-1'!-. )rench mathematician and phi"#s#pher. These long chains of perfectly simple and easy reas#nings by means of which ge#meters are accustomed to carry out their most difficult dem#nstrati#ns had led me to fancy that everything that can fall under human knowledge forms a similar sequence; and that so long as we avoid accepting as true what is not so, and always preserve the right order of deduction of one thing from another, there can be nothing too remote to be reached in the end, or to well hidden to be discovered. Discours de la Mthode. !"#. *.rer, A"/recht. 1 71-1!28. German artist. And since ge#metry is the right f#$ndati#n of a"" painting, $ have decided to teach its rudiments and principles to all youngsters eager for art.

Course in the Art of Measurement 0$c"id. A/#$t (2! BC-2'! BC. 1t#"emy once asked 0$c"id whether there was any shorter way to a knowledge of ge#metry than by st$dy of the 0"ements, whereupon 0$c"id answered that there was n# r#ya" r#ad to ge#metry.
Commentary on Euclid's Elements I. %roctus &iadochus. A& ' ()'*+.

Ga"i"e# Ga"i"ei, 1!' - 1' 2. 2ta"ian astr#n#mer, mathematician, and physicist. 3he $ni4erse cann#t /e read until we have learnt the language and become familiar with the characters in which it is written. $t is written in mathematica" "ang$age, and the letters are triang"es, circ"es and other ge#metrica" fig$res, without which means it is humanly impossible to comprehend a single word. Opere Il Saggiatore A$/rey, %#hn. 1'2'-1'97. 0ng"ish anti5$arian. ,About 3h#mas 6#//es - +**) !#.. /nglish philosopher012 3e was '( years old before he looked on geometry; which happened accidentally. 4eing in a gentleman5s library, 0$c"id7s 0"ements "ay #pen, and 6twas the 7 0". "i/ri 28 9Pythagoras' 3he#rem:. 3e read the proposition 8By G#d8, said he, 6this is imp#ssi/"e16 So he reads the demonstration of it, which referred him back to such a proposition; which proposition he read. That referred him back to another, which he also read. Et sic deinceps, that at last he was demonstratively convinced of that truth. This made him in "#4e with ge#metry. $n O. 7. &ick -ed.0 Brief Li es, O8ford1 O8ford 9niversity %ress, .!(. 2/n ;ha"d$n, 1((2-1 -'. Ara/ hist#rian Ge#metry en"ightens the inte""ect and sets one5s mind right. All its pr##fs are very clear and orderly. $t is hardly possible for errors to enter into ge#metrica" reas#ning, because it is well arranged and orderly. Thus, the mind that constantly applies itself to ge#metry is not likely to fall into error. $n this convenient way, the person who knows geometry ac5$ires inte""igence. $t has been assumed that the

following statement was written upon %lato5s door1 6:o one who is not a ge#metrician may enter our h#$se.6 ;ep"er %#hannes. 1!71-1'(-. German astr#n#mer and mathematician. Ge#metry is one and eternal shining in the mind of G#d. That share in it accorded to men is one of the reasons that <an is the image of G#d. Con ersation !ith the Sidereal Messenger -an open letter to ;alileo ;alilei0 =agrange, %#seph =#$is. 17('-181(. )rench mathematician. As long as a"ge/ra and ge#metry have been separated, their pr#gress 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. <ande"/r#t, Ben#it. 192 -. <athematician /#rn in >arsaw. )racta" ge#meter. $t5s ironic that fracta"s, many of which were invented as e8amples of pathological behavior, turn out to be pathological at all. $n fact they are the rule in the universe. Shapes, which are not fracta", are the e8ception. $ love 0$c"idean ge#metry, but it is quite clear that it does not give a reasonable presentation of the world. <#$ntains are n#t c#nes, clouds are n#t spheres, trees are n#t cy"inders, neither does lightning travel in a straight "ine. Almost everything around us is n#n-0$c"idean. 2saac ?ewt#n, 1' 2@1727, 0ng"ish mathematician and nat$ra" phi"#s#pher $t is the glory of ge#metry that from so few princip"es, fetched from without, it is able to acc#mp"ish so much. 1app$s #f A"eAandria. ca 29--(!-. Greek ge#meter Bees. . . by virtue of a certain ge#metrica" forethought . . . know that the heAag#n is greater than the s5$are and the triang"e and will hold

more honey for the same e8penditure of material 1edersen, %ean. Ge#metry is a ski"" of the eyes and the hands as well as of the mind. 1"at#. ca 29-( 7 BC. Greek phi"#s#pher. The kn#w"edge of which ge#metry aims is the knowledge of the eterna". "epu#lic$ %II$ &'( 1"$tarch. ca '-127. Greek essayist and /i#grapher. ,about Archimedes12 ... being perpetually charmed by his familiar siren, that is, by his ge#metry, he neg"ected to eat and drink and took no care of his person; that he was often carried by force to the baths, and when there he would trace ge#metrica" fig$res in the ashes of the fire, and with his finger draws lines upon his body when it was anointed with oil, being in a state of great ecstasy and di4ine"y p#ssessed by his science. $n ;. Simmons Calculus )ems, :ew <ork1 =c;raw 3ill $nc., ..>. 1#incar,, %$"es 6enri. 18! -1912. )rench mathematician and physicist. ...by nat$ra" se"ecti#n our mind has adapted itself to the conditions of the e8ternal world. $t has adopted the ge#metry most advantageous to the species or, in other words, the most convenient. Ge#metry is not true, it is advantageous. Science and Method( 1#"ya Ge#rge. 1887-198!. The e"egance of a mathematical the#rem is direct"y proportional to the number of independent ideas one can see in the theorem and in4erse"y proportional to the eff#rt it takes to see them. Mathematical disco ery -:ew <ork, .* 0

$f you have to pr#4e a the#rem, do not rush. ?irst of all, understand fully what the theorem says, try to see clearly what it means. Then check the theorem, it could be false. /8amine the consequences, verify as many particular instances as are needed to convince yourself of the truth. @hen you have satisfied yourself that theorem is true, you can start proving it. *o! to Sol e It -%rinceton, .'+0 1$shkin, A"eksander Sergee4ich. 1799-18(7. +$ssian a$th#r. 2nspirati#n is needed in ge#metry, Aust as much as in p#etry. Li+htenshtein +egi#m#ntan$s, %#hann. 1 ('-1 7'. <ou, who wish to study great and wonderful things, who wonder about the movement of the stars, must read these the#rems about triang"es. Bnowing these ideas will #pen the door to all of astronomy and to certain ge#metric pr#/"ems. De triangulis omnimodis +iemann Bernhard. 182'-18''. German mathematician and ed$cat#r. $f only $ had the the#remsC Then $ should find the pr##fs easily enough. Ba",ry, 1a$". 1871-19 !. )rench p#et and critic. $n the physica" w#r"d, one cann#t increase the siCe or quantity of anything without changing its 5$a"ity. Simi"ar fig$res eAist only in p$re ge#metry. B#"taire. )ranD#is <arie Ar#$et. 1'9 -1778. )rench phi"#s#pher and a$th#r. 3here are n# sects in ge#metry. >ittgenstein, =$dwig. 1889-19!1. A$strian phi"#s#pher. @e could present spatially an at#mic fact which c#ntradicted the

"aws of physics, but n#t one which c#ntradicted the "aws #f ge#metry. ,ractatus Logico -hilosophicus, :ew <ork, .>>.