Pierre De Fermat Quotes

I am more exempt and more distant than any man in the world. ~ Pierre De Fermat

I carried this problem around in my head basically the whole time. I would wake up with it first thing in the morning, I would be thinking about it all day, and I would be thinking about it when I went to sleep. Without distraction I would have the same thing going round and round in my mind.
(Recalling the degree of focus and determination that eventually yielded the proof of Fermat's Last Theorem.) ~ Andrew John Wiles

I have found a very great number of exceedingly beautiful theorems. ~ Pierre De Fermat

It is impossible to separate any power except a square into 2 powers with the same exponent. I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of this, which however the margin is not large enough to contain ~ Pierre De Fermat

The most famous Diophantine equation in history is the one known as Fermat's last Theorem, the celebrated statement by Pierre de Fermat (1601-55) that there are no whole number solutions to the equation x^n + y^n = z^n, where n is any number greater than 2. When n = 2, there are many solutions (in fact an infinite number). For instance, 3^2 + 4^2 = 5^2 (9 + 16 = 25); or 12^2 +5^2 = 13^2 (144 + 25 = 169). Miraculously, when we go from n = 2 to n = 3, there are no whole numbers x,y,z that satisfy x^3 + y^3 = z^3, and the same is true for any other value of n that is greater than 2. Appropriately, it was in the margin of the second book of Diophantus's Arithmetica, which Fermat was eagerly reading, that he wrote his extraordinary claim-one that took no fewer than 356 years to prove. ~ Mario Livio

I will share all of this with you whenever you wish. ~ Pierre De Fermat

Some mathematics problems look simple, and you try them for a year or so, and then you try them for a hundred years, and it turns out that they're extremely hard to solve. There's no reason why these problems shouldn't be easy, and yet they turn out to be extremely intricate. [Fermat's] Last Theorem is the most beautiful example of this. ~ Andrew John Wiles

It is a matter for considerable regret that Fermat, who cultivated the theory of numbers with so much success, did not leave us with the proofs of the theorems he discovered. In truth, Messrs Euler and Lagrange, who have not disdained this kind of research, have proved most of these theorems, and have even substituted extensive theories for the isolated propositions of Fermat. But there are several proofs which have resisted their efforts. ~ Adrien-Marie Legendre

Man can be understood only by ascending from physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. In other words, he is first of all a cosmic problem. ~ Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

What divides men is less a difference in ideas than a likeness in pretensions. ~ Pierre-Jean De Beranger

What paralyzes life is lack of faith and lack of audacity. The difficulty lies not in solving problems but identifying them. ~ Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

I am astonished at the pleasure one experiences in doing good; and I should be tempted to believe that what we call virtuous people have not so much merit as they lead us to suppose. ~ Pierre-Ambroise Choderlos De Laclos

Apre' s le rare bonheur de trouver une compagne qui nous soit bien assortie, l'e tat le moins malheureux de la vie est sans doute de vivre seul. After the rare happiness of finding a companion with whom we are well matched, the least unpleasant state of life is without doubt to live alone. ~ Jacques-Henri Bernardin De Saint-Pierre

Progressively saved by the machine from the anxieties that bound his hands and mind to material toil, relieved of a large part of his work and compelled to an ever-increasing speed of action by the devices which his intelligence cannot help ceaselessly creating and perfecting, man is about to find himself abruptly plunged into idleness. ~ Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

The Abbe de Saint-Pierre suggested an association of all the states of Europe to maintain perpetual peace among themselves. Is this association practicable, and supposing that it were established, would it be likely to last? ~ Jean-Jacques Rousseau

It's your world, but I make my way in it. At fifteen, no, I couldn't stand up to you. The age of illusions, when we know nothing, we hope for everything; we're wandering in a mist ... And the half of the world that's never had any use for us, suddenly is besieging us. You need us, you adore us, you're suffering for us. You want everything--except to know what we think. You look deep in our eyes--and put your hand up our dress. You call us, "Pretty thing." That confuses us. The most beautiful woman, the highest ranked, lives half dazzled by constant attention, half stifled by obvious contempt. We think all we're good for is pleasing you--till one day, long acquaintance with you dispels the last mist. In a clear light, we suddenly see you as you are--and generally we start preferring ourselves. At thirty, I could finally say no--or really say yes. That's when you begin backing away from us. Now I'm full-grown. I pursue my happiness the same as any man. ~ Pierre-Augustin Caron De Beaumarchais

Matter is spirit moving slowly enough to be seen. ~ Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

The Olympic Games were created for the exhaltation of the individual athlete. ~ Pierre De Coubertin

There is not a single person who cannot easily reach the highest degree of perfection by performing every duty, no matter how commonplace, with eager love. ~ Jean-Pierre De Caussade

Without you, without your onslaughts, without your uprootings of us, we should remain all our lives inert, stagnant, puerile, ignorant both of ourselves and of God. You who batter us and then dress our wounds, you who resist us and yield to us, you who wreck and build, you who shackle and liberate, the sap of our souls, the hand of God, the flesh of Christ: it is you, matter, that I bless. ~ Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

God speaks to all individuals through what happens to them moment by moment. ~ Jean-Pierre De Caussade

That which I might endeavour to find in other ways seeks me incessantly and gives itself to me through all creatures. ~ Jean-Pierre De Caussade

Love is the affinity which links and draws together the elements of the world ... Love, in fact, is the agent of universal synthesis. ~ Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

Research is the highest form of adoration ~ Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

My roots are in Paris, and I will not pull them up. ~ Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

There are really only two ways, it seems to me, in which we can think about our existence here on earth. We either agree with Macbeth that life is nothing more than a "tale told by an idiot," a purposeless emergence of life-forms including the clever, greedy, selfish, and unfortunately destructive species that we call Homo sapiens - the "evolutionary goof." Or we believe that, as Pierre Teilhard de Chardin put it, "There is something afoot in the universe, something that looks like gestation and birth." In other words, a plan, a purpose to it all. ~ Jane Goodall

It is done. Once again the Fire has penetrated the earth, not with the sudden crash of thunderbolt, riving the mountain tops: does the Master break down doors to enter His own home? Without earthquake, or thunderclap: the flame has lit up the whole world from within. ~ Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

The duties of each moment are the shadows beneath which hides the divine operation. ~ Jean-Pierre De Caussade

When you are very old, and sit in the candle - light at evening spinning by the fire, you will say, as you murmur my verses, a wonder in your eyes, 'Ronsard sang of me in the days when I was fair. ~ Pierre De Ronsard

As a result of changes which, over the last century, have modified our empirically based pictures of the world and hence the moral value of many of its elements, the "human religious ideal" inclines to stress certain tendencies and to express itself in terms which seem, at first sight, no longer to coincide with the "christian religious ideal". ~ Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

Growing old is like being increasingly penalized for a crime you haven't committed. ~ Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

*Take my advice, do like me and get yourself another lover. This is good advice, in fact it's very good advice: if you don't like it, it's not my fault.*

*Farewell my angle. I've enjoyed having you and I've no regrets leaving you. I may come back to you. That's the of the world. It's not my fault.* ~ Pierre-Ambroise Choderlos De Laclos

Literature is the daughter of heaven, who descended upon earth to soften and charm all human ills. ~ Jacques-Henri Bernardin De Saint-Pierre

Our century is probably more religious than any other. How could it fail to be, with such problems to be solved? The only trouble is that it has not yet found a God it can adore. ~ Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

The heart of our problem is the selfishness in our heart.

The human spirit soars with hope when lifted by an encouraging word.

The important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. ~ Pierre De Coubertin

We spend our lives, all of us, waiting for the great day, the great battle, or the deed of power. But that external consummation is not given to many: nor is it necessary. So long as our being is tensed, directed with passion, towards that which is the spirit of all things, then that spirit will emerge from our own hidden, nameless effort. ~ Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

When one woman strikes at the heart of another, she seldom misses, and the wound is invariably fatal. ~ Pierre-Ambroise Choderlos De Laclos

That there is an evolution of one sort or another is now common ground among scientists. Whether or not that evolution is directed is another question. ~ Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

Do men ever appreciate the women they possess? ~ Pierre Choderlos De Laclos

By virtue of Creation, and still more the Incarnation, nothing here below is profane for those who know how to see. ~ Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

The important thing is that all stages from adolescent to mature man, work is done to spread the sporting spirit. ~ Pierre De Coubertin

God makes all chosen souls pass through a fearful time of poverty, misery, and nothingness. He desires to destroy in them gradually all the help and confidence they derive from themselves so that He may be their sole source of support, their confidence, their hope, their only resource. ~ Jean-Pierre De Caussade

Coquettes know how to please, not love, and that is why men love them SO much. ~ Pierre De Marivaux

God is inexhaustibly attainable in the totality of our action. ~ Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

I need only to be shown my mistakes and I never rest until I have retrieved them. ~ Pierre-Ambroise Choderlos De Laclos

Not everything is immediately good to those who seek God; but everything is capable of becoming good. ~ Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

In this world, you must be a bit too kind to be kind enough. ~ Pierre De Marivaux

At a finite distance in the future, a critical state of encounter will occur, an ultimate co-reflective Center. A focused conspiration will allure individual persons to identify with others in profound affinity. Because of thinking altogether, love will grow into Divinity. ~ Pierre Teilhard De Chardin

The present moment is always full of infinite treasure. It contains far more than you can possibly grasp. Faith is the measure of its riches: what you find in the present moment is according to the measure of your faith. Love also is the measure: the more the heart loves, the more it rejoices in what God provides. The will of God presents itself at each moment like an immense ocean that the desire of your heart cannot empty; yet you will drink from that ocean according to your faith and love. ~ Jean-Pierre De Caussade

I assure you that the world is not so amusing as we imagined. ~ Pierre Choderlos De Laclos

The Church is like a great tree whose roots must be energetically anchored in the earth while its leaves are serenely exposed to the bright sunlight. In this way, she sums up a whole gamut of beats in a single living and all-embracing act, each one of which corresponds to a particular degree or a possible form of spiritualisation. ~ Pierre Teilhard De Chardin