Josiah Willard Gibbs

We avoid the gravest difficulties when, giving up the attempt to frame hypotheses concerning the constitution of matter, we pursue statistical inquiries as a branch of rational mechanics.

His true monument lies not on the shelves of libraries, but in the thoughts of men, and in the history of more than one science.

One of the principal objects of theoretical research is to find the point of view from which the subject appears in the greatest simplicity.