"There is divinity in odd numbers, either in nativity, chance, or death." (William Shakespeare, "The Merry Wives of Windsor", 1602)
"What is big is easy to perceive: what is small is difficult to perceive. In short, it is difficult for large numbers of men to change position, so their movements can be easily predicted. An individual can easily change his mind, so his movements are difficult to predict."(Miyamoto Musashi, "The Book of Five Rings", 1645)
"[…] the knowledge we have of the Mathematicks, hath no reason to elate us; since by them we know but numbers, and figures, creatures of our own, and are yet ignorant of our Maker’s." (Joseph Glanvill, "The Vanity of Dogmatizing", 1661)
"Measure, time and number are nothing but modes of thought or rather of imagination." (Baruch Spinoza, [Letter to Ludvicus Meyer] 1663)
"For any number there exists a corresponding even number which is its double. Hence the number of all numbers is not greater than the number of even numbers, that is, the whole is not greater than the part." (Gottfried W Leibniz, "De Arte Combinatoria", 1666)
"We know that there is an infinite, and we know not its nature. As we know it to be false that numbers are finite, it is therefore true that there is a numerical infinity. But we know not of what kind; it is untrue that it is even, untrue that it is odd; for the addition of a unit does not change its nature; yet it is a number, and every number is odd or even (this certainly holds of every finite number). Thus we may quite well know that there is a God without knowing what He is." (Blaise Pascal, "Pensées", 1670)
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