Joseph-Louis Lagrange

As 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 thenceforward marched with equal steps towards perfection.

It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well.

The method of fluxions is not a true calculus, but a method of calculation.

Mathematics is the science which draws necessary conclusions.

A mathematician who is not also something of a poet will never be a complete mathematician.

I have always been of the opinion that the best way to learn is to teach.

It seems that nature has chosen the principle of least action as the most fundamental law of the universe.

The solutions of the most difficult problems are often the simplest.

It is true that I have never been able to find a satisfactory proof of the parallel postulate.

The calculus of variations is a method for finding the maximum or minimum of certain integrals.

I consider it a great misfortune that I was not born in a country where mathematics is more cultivated.

The more I study, the more I am convinced that the world is governed by mathematical laws.

The method of fluxions, as it is called, is nothing but the differential calculus.

It is by the study of mathematics that we learn to reason.

The true method of discovery is to begin with the general and proceed to the particular.

I have always been struck by the fact that the most profound truths are often the simplest.

The theory of functions is a subject of the greatest importance in mathematics.

The principle of virtual velocities is one of the most fruitful principles in mechanics.

The progress of mathematics is intimately connected with the progress of civilization.

I have always preferred the elegance of a mathematical proof to the beauty of a poem.