My history professor mentioned a joke made by Diderot about Jean d'Alembert that goes something along those lines:
"d'Alembert's mathematical genius makes him stand on the largest mountain, with his head high in the clouds, preventing him to look down into the valley".
Unfortunately my professor could not remember the original text and source. I would greatly appreciate if someone could help me out :)
Edit 0: I hope this does not fare as a trivia question. I actually could really make good use of the quote in my research paper.
ok, found it. If there is a lonely soul somewhere out there, interested in the quote, here it is:
[The mathematicians] resemble those who gaze out from the tops of high mountains whose summits are lost in the clouds. Objects on the plain below have disappeared from view; the are left with only the spectacle of their own thoughts and the consciousness of the height to which they have risen and where perhaps it is not possible for everyone to follow and breathe [the thin air]. (about Euler and d'Alembert)
Diderot, Œuvres philosophiques, p.216