Quotations by Henri Lebesgue

In my opinion, a mathematician, in so far as he is a mathematician, need not preoccupy himself with philosophy -- an opinion, moreover, which has been expressed by many philosophers.
quoted in E T Bell Men of Mathematics

Mathematicians have never been in full agreement on their science, though it is said to be the science of self-evident verities -- absolute, indisputable and definitive. They have always been in controversy over developing aspects of mathematics, and they have always considered their own age to be in a period of crisis.

JOC/EFR February 2006

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