Came across a quote from René Decartes in an article about his mathematics:
"..having determined as I did [in La Géométrie] all that could be achieved in each type of problem and shown the way to do it, I claim that people should not only believe that I have accomplished more than my predecessors but should also be convinced that posterity will never discover anything in this subject which I could not have discovered just as well if I had bothered to look for it (To Mersenne, end of December 1637; AT 1, 478; CSMK, 78–79)."
He seems to me to be staking a claim not only on the innovations that are immediately apparent, but also on all other future discoveries on the subject, that had he only "bothered to look for", he would have made those as well... talk about self-confidence!
