Leave Quotes (2)
Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
In Richard Alan Krieger, Civilization's Quotations: Life's Ideal (2002), 6. Although this source, and a number of others, attribute the quote to Ralph Waldo Emerson, none that the webmaster found have a citation, and a number of other sources treat it as anonymous. Thus, the webmaster references Emerson with doubt. If you know a definitive primary print source, please contact the webmaster.
The great masters of modern analysis are Lagrange, Laplace, and Gauss, who were contemporaries. It is interesting to note the marked contrast in their styles. Lagrange is perfect both in form and matter, he is careful to explain his procedure, and though his arguments are general they are easy to follow. Laplace on the other hand explains nothing, is indifferent to style, and, if satisfied that his results are correct, is content to leave them either with no proof or with a faulty one. Gauss is as exact and elegant as Lagrange, but even more difficult to follow than Laplace, for he removes every trace of the analysis by which he reached his results, and studies to give a proof which while rigorous shall be as concise and synthetical as possible.
History of Mathematics (3rd Ed., 1901), 468.
See also: | Analysis (37) | Anecdote (14) | Content (6) | Correct (5) | Difficult (2) | Easy (5) | Exact (3) | Explanation (20) | Carl Friedrich Gauss (52) | Count Joseph-Louis de Lagrange (7) | Pierre-Simon Laplace (41) | Perfection (12) | Procedure (4) | Proof (59) | Reasoning (27) | Remove (4) | Result (25) | Satisfy (3) | Style (3)
