And this proposition is generally true for all progressions and for all prime numbers; the proof of which I would send to you, if I were not afraid to be too long.

— Pierre de Fermat

Et cette proposition est généralement vraie en toutes progressions et en tous nombres premiers; de quoi je vous envoierois la démonstration, si je n'appréhendois d'être trop long.

Original text (French)

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Notes from Wikiquote

Fermat (in a letter dated October 18, 1640 to his friend and confidant Frénicle de Bessy) commenting on his statement that p divides a p−1 − 1 whenever p is prime and a is coprime to p (this is what is now known as Fermat's little theorem).

More quotes by Pierre de Fermat

I have discovered a truly remarkable proof of this theorem which this margin is too small to contain.

There is scarcely any one who states purely arithmetical questions, scarcely any who understands them. Is this not because arithmetic has been treated up to this time geometrically rather than arithmetically?

Letter to Frénicle (1657)

It is impossible for the cube to be written as a sum of two cubes or a fourth power to be written as a sum of two fourth powers or, in general for any number which is any number which is a power greater than the second to be written as a sum of two like powers. I have a truly marvelous demonstration of this proposition which this margin is too narrow to contain.

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Pierre de Fermat (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.

And this proposition is generally true for all progressions and for all prime numbers; the proof of which I would send to you, if I were not afraid to be too long.

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