"Fontenelle, as he concludes his Eloge of Ozanam, informs us, that it used to be a saying of this academician, that it is the prerogative of the mathematician to go to Paradise in a perpendicular line. This, I have no doubt, was Mr. Lambert's route upon quitting the earth; nor had he occasion for a chariot of fire to carry him to heaven, a single ray of light would afford him a vehicle."
January 1, 1970
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Johann_Heinrich_Lambert