Fermat, Pierre de. 1601-1665. French lawyer and mathematician. Concerning the lost proof of his "Last Theorem."

"I have discovered a truly marvelous demonstration which this margin is too narrow to contain."



"To divide a cube into two other cubes, a fourth power or in general any power whatever into two powers of the same denomination above the second is impossible, and I have assuredly found an admirable proof of this, but the margin is too narrow to contain it."



"And perhaps, posterity will thank me for having shown it that the ancients did not know everything."