Gauss in Love!

Not many people know of passionate and poetic side of Carl Friedrich Gauss, one of the greatest mathematicians of all times. The following is an exerpt from Gauss' Letter of 12 July, 1804 in which he asks for the hand of Johanna Osthoff, his first wife:

....My true friend, receive favorably the fact that I pour out my heart, in writing, before you, about an important matter, regarding which I have found no proper opportunity to mention up to the present.

Finally, let me say it from the fullness of my heart, that I have a heart for your silent angelic virtues, an eye for the noble features which make your face a true mirror of these virtues. You, dear modest soul, are so far removed from all vanity that you yourself do not realize you own value; you don't know how richly and kindly heaven has endowed you. But my heart knows your worth -- O! more than it can bear with repose. For a long time it has belonged to you. You won't repel it? Can you give me yours? Dear, can you grasp the proffered hand, do it gladly? My happiness hangs on the answer to this question. Indeed, at present I can't offer you riches or splendor. Still, dear, I can not have erred as to your beautiful soul -- you are certainly as indifferent to riches and splendor as I am. But I have more than I need for myself alone, enough for two young people to start a carefree, agreeable life, not thinking at all of my prospects for the future. The best that I can offer you is a true heart full of the warmest love for you.
Ask yourself, beloved friend, whether this heart completely satisfies you, whether you can reply just as sincerely to its feelings, whether you can contentedly make the journey of life hand in hand with me, and decide soon.

I have placed before you, darling, the desires of my heart in artless, but candid words. I could have done it in entirely different words. I could make for you a portrait of your charms, which you, although it would be nothing more than the truth, would have received as flattery; with burning colors I could make for you a picture of my love -- to be sure, there I would be allowed only the expression of my feeling -- a portrait of the bliss or disconsolation which await me ever after you have accepted or rejected my desires. But I didn't want to do that. At least, don't mistake the pureness of my unselfish love. I don't want to bribe your decision. In the sincerest concern of your life you must not allow any unusual considerations to influence you. You are not to bring a sacrifice to my happiness. Your own happiness alone must guide your decision. Yes, dearest, so warmly do I even love you, that only possession of you can make me happy, if you are of the same feeling.

Dearest, I have exposed to you the inner part of my heart: passionately and in suspense am I waiting for your answer. With all my heart,

Yours,
C. F. Gauss

Johanna let C F Gauss squirm for three months before saying yes!

Taken from pages 63 and 64 of G. Waldo Dunnington's biography Carl Friedrich Gauss: Titan of Science, reprinted by MAA. You can also read more here!

Even though the above letter has nothing to do with Mathematics, this reminded me of G H Hardy who wrote in A Mathematician's Apology (London 1941):

The mathematician's patterns, like the painter's or the poet's must be beautiful; the ideas, like the colours or the words must fit together in a harmonious way. Beauty is the first test: there is no permanent place in this world for ugly mathematics.