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Quotation from Elements, Books I-VI by Euclid
“Euclid never takes for granted the doing of anything for which a geometrical construction, founded on other problems or on the foregoing postulates, can be given”
Elements, Books I-VI, Book I, note on the Postulates, trans. John Casey (3rd ed., 1885)
Casey explains the economy of Euclid's method: postulates are kept to a minimum, and everything else must be constructed.
Citation: "Euclid never takes for granted the doing of anything for which a geometrical construction, founded on other problems or on the foregoing postulates, can be given" — Euclid, Elements, Books I-VI, Book I, note on the Postulates, trans. John Casey (3rd ed., 1885). (id euclid-elements-books-i-vi-q7)
