“That this subject [of imaginary magnitudes] has hitherto been considered from the wrong point of view and surrounded by a mysterious obscurity, is to be attributed largely to an ill-adapted notation. If, for example, +1, -1, and the square root of -1 had been called direct, inverse and lateral units, instead of positive, negative and imaginary (or even impossible), such an obscurity would have been out of the question.” IfsHas BeensViewsImpossibleSubjectsExampleNegativeDirectRootsIllPoint Of ViewMysteriousSquaresImaginaryUnitsObscurityMagnitudeAdaptedInverseSquare Roots Author:Carl Friedrich Gauss
“It is not knowledge, but the act of learning, not possession but the act of getting there, which grants the greatest enjoyment. When I have clarified and exhausted a subject, then I turn away from it, in order to go into darkness again; the never-satisfied man is so strange if he has completed a structure, then it is not in order to dwell in it peacefully,but in order to begin another. I imagine the world conqueror must feel thus, who, after one kingdom is scarcely conquered, stretches out his arms for others.” IfsMenWorldFeelsScienceOrderTurnsKnowledgeDarknessLearningImagineSubjectsStrangeArmsStructurePossessionSatisfiedKingdomsEnjoymentGrantsExhaustedConquerorGreat Math Author:Carl Friedrich Gauss
“If others would but reflect on mathematical truths as deeply and as continuously as I have, they would make my discoveries.” IfsTruthScienceDiscoveryMathematicsMathematicalMathematical Equations Author:Carl Friedrich Gauss
“Does the pursuit of truth give you as much pleasure as before? Surely it is not the knowing but the learning, not the possessing but the acquiring, not the being-there but the getting there that afford the greatest satisfaction. If I have exhausted something, I leave it in order to go again into the dark. Thus is that insatiable man so strange: when he has completed a structure it is not in order to dwell in it comfortably, but to start another.” IfsMenGivingDoeOrderDarkPleasureKnowingStrangeExperienceStructureSatisfactionPursuitExhaustedBeing TherePossessingInsatiable Author:Carl Friedrich Gauss
“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 to it, even practical (astronomical) work must give far more satisfaction than if one brings up to B a couple more mediocre heads which otherwise would have stopped at A.” IfsGivingFirstsAbleScienceCoursesEducationCoupleCostFirst TimeWinterSatisfactionPracticalsMy TimeOccupationMediocreLecturesReconcileExpenditures Author:Carl Friedrich Gauss
