The modern mathematician weaves an intricate pattern of microscopic precision. To him, a false statement — an exception to a general statement — is an unforgiving sin. The heroic mathematician, on the other hand, paints with broad splashes of color, with a grand contempt for singular cases until they could no longer be avoided.

The Scripta Mathematica Studies Number 2, The Life and Early Works of Sir William Rowan Hamilton (p. 16)