Joseph-Louis Lagrange

Science progresses not by leaps, but by the accumulation of infinitesimal truths.

On my deathbed, I see the circle complete: from Turin to Paris, a full orbit.

As long as a branch of science offers an abundance of problems, so long is it alive; a lack of problems is a sign of death.

It seems to me that the method of variations is the most general and perhaps the most simple of all those which can be employed in the solution of problems of maxima and minima.

It is a great misfortune for a mathematician to have no problems to solve.

The analytical method is the most general and the most elegant.

The methods which I have developed require no other principles than those of ordinary algebra, and I hope that they will be found to be as simple as they are general.

No one can deny that the analytical method is the most perfect and the most general of all.

The advantage of the analytical method is that it reduces all problems to the simple operations of algebra.

The analytical method is the most powerful instrument that the human mind has ever invented.

The principles of mechanics are nothing but the principles of analysis applied to the motion of bodies.

The whole of mechanics is reduced to a single principle, that of virtual velocities.

The analytical method is the most perfect and the most general of all.

I have received your letter, and I am very pleased to learn of your good health and that of your family. As for me, I am always well, and I continue to work with the same ardor.

I am very grateful for the kind words you have sent me. I assure you that I am very sensible of your friendship, and I hope to be able to prove it to you on every occasion.

I am very busy with my work, and I have little time to write. But I wanted to send you a few lines to assure you of my constant friendship.

I am always delighted to receive news from you, and I am very pleased to learn of your progress in mathematics.

I am very happy to be in Paris, and I find here many things that interest me. I am also very pleased with the reception I have received from my colleagues.

I am always working on new problems, and I hope to be able to publish some new results soon.

I am very grateful for the honor you have done me by electing me to the Academy. I assure you that I will do my best to justify your choice.