The teacher pretended that algebra was a perfectly natural affair, to be taken for granted, whereas I didnt even know what numbers were. Mathematics classes became sheer terror and torture to me. I was so intimidated by my incomprehension that I did not dare to ask any questions. – Carl Gustav Jung

I have often admired the mystical way of Pythagoras, and the secret magic of numbers. – Sir Thomas Browne

I know that two and two make four — and should be glad to prove it too if I could — though I must say if by any sort of process I could convert 2 and 2 into five it would give me much greater pleasure. – Lord (George Gordon) Byron