…and his analysis proved him to be the first of theoretical astronomers no less than the greatest of ‘arithmeticians.

The mathematical giant [Gauss], who from his lofty heights embraces in one view the stars and the abysses …

The best that Gauss has given us was likewise an exclusive production. If he had not created his geometry of surfaces, which served Riemann as a basis, it is scarcely conceivable that anyone else would...

In describing the honourable mission I charged him with, M. Pernety informed me that he made my name known to you. This leads me to confess that I am not as completely unknown to you...

For other great mathematicians or philosophers, he used the epithets magnus, or clarus, or clarissimus; for Newton alone he kept the prefix summus.