The wise man, an ancient writer has said, is to the woman what the asymptote is to the curve, it draws ever nearer but never touches.
"Underground Man"
Gabriel Tarde
But the professors of Law are not to blame for this; on the other hand, as Lessing asserts of Truth, that not the finding, but the seeking of it profits men, and that he himself would willingly make over his claim to all truths in return for the sweet labor of investigation, so is the professor of Law not profited by the finding and deciding, but by the investigation of a juridical truth,-which is called pleading and practising,-and he would willingly consent to approximate to Truth forever, like an hyperbola to its asymptote, without ever meeting it, seeing he can subsist as an honorable man with wife and child, let such approximation be as tedious as it likes.
"The Campaner Thal and Other Writings"
Jean Paul Friedrich Richter
The poor gentleman might just as well have tried to understand the character of an asymptote, or to win the confidence of a Will-o'-the-wisp; and nothing but misery can come of it when a middle-aged city merchant, born without even a rudimentary sense of humour, suddenly determines to cultivate that gift for the benefit of a boy who can detect humour in the wording of an invoice.
"Audrey Craven"
May Sinclair