If I Were To Awaken

Mathematics Knows No Races Or Geographic Boundaries; For Mathematics, The Cultural World Is One Country.

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.

Is Mathematics Doomed To Suffer The Same Fate As Other Sciences That Have Split Into Separate Branches?... Mathematics Is, In My Opinion, An Indivisible Whole... May The New Century Bring With It Ingenious Champions And Many Zealous And Enthusiastic Disciples.

I Have Tried To Avoid Long Numerical Computations, Thereby Following Riemann's Postulate That Proofs Should Be Given Through Ideas And Not Voluminous Computations.

Besides It Is An Error To Believe That Rigour Is The Enemy Of Simplicity. On The Contrary We Find It Confirmed By Numerous Examples That The Rigorous Method Is At The Same Time The Simpler And The More Easily Comprehended. The Very Effort For Rigor Forces Us To Find Out Simpler Methods Of Proof.