If I Were To Awaken After Having

The Infinite! No Other Question Has Ever Moved So Profoundly The Spirit Of Man.

Some People Have Got A Mental Horizon Of Radius Zero And Call It Their Point Of View.

Mathematical Science Is In My Opinion An Indivisible Whole, An Organism Whose Vitality Is Conditioned Upon The Connection Of Its Parts.

Who Of Us Would Not Be Glad To Lift The Veil Behind Which The Future Lies Hidden; To Cast A Glance At The Next Advances Of Our Science And At The Secrets Of Its Development During Future Centuries? What Particular Goals Will There Be Toward Which The Leading Mathematical Spirits Of Coming Generations Will Strive? What New Methods And New Facts In The Wide And Rich Field Of Mathematical Thought Will The New Centuries Disclose?

Before Beginning [to Try To Prove Fermat's Last Theorem] I Should Have To Put In Three Years Of Intensive Study, And I Haven't That Much Time To Squander On A Probable Failure.