"It is as if one were to condense
all trends of present day mathematics
onto a single finite structure…."

— Gian-Carlo Rota, foreword to
A Source Book in Matroid Theory ,
Joseph P.S. Kung, Birkhäuser, 1986

"There is  such a thing as a matroid."

— Saying adapted from a novel by Madeleine L'Engle

Related remarks from Mathematics Magazine  in 2009 —

See also the eightfold cube —

The Eightfold Cube

 .