“I devoted several months in privacy to the composition of a treatise on the mysteries of Three Dimensions.”
Source: Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (1884), PART II: OTHER WORLDS, Chapter 22. How I Then Tried to Diffuse the Theory of Three Dimensions by Other Means, and of the Result
Context: I devoted several months in privacy to the composition of a treatise on the mysteries of Three Dimensions. Only, with the view of evading the Law, if possible, I spoke not of a physical Dimension, but of a Thoughtland whence, in theory, a Figure could look down upon Flatland and see simultaneously the insides of all things, and where it was possible that there might be supposed to exist a Figure environed, as it were, with six Squares, and containing eight terminal Points. But in writing this book I found myself sadly hampered by the impossibility of drawing such diagrams as were necessary for my purpose... my life was under a cloud. All pleasures palled upon me; all sights tantalized and tempted me to outspoken treason, because I could not but compare what I saw in Two Dimensions with what it really was if seen in Three, and could hardly refrain from making my comparisons aloud.' I neglected my clients and my own business to give myself to the contemplation of the mysteries which I had once beheld, yet which I could impart to no one, and found daily more difficult to reproduce even before my own mental vision.
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Edwin Abbott Abbott 87
British theologian and author 1838–1926Related quotes
“CHOOSING WELL IS DIFFICULT, AND MOST DECISIONS HAVE SEVERAL different dimensions.”
The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less
"The Singularity," The New Humanists: Science at the Edge (2003)
Dan Balz, "Heinz Kerry Has Retort for Bush Fans," washingtonpost.com (2004-08-03)
From a campaign rally speech in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (2004-08-02).
Source: Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (1884), PART II: OTHER WORLDS, Chapter 19. How, Though the Sphere Showed Me Other Mysteries of Spaceland, I Still Desired More; and What Came of It
Context: I despair not that, even here, in this region of Three Dimensions, your Lordship's art may make the Fourth Dimension visible to me; just as in the Land of Two Dimensions my Teacher's skill would fain have opened the eyes of his blind servant to the invisible presence of a Third Dimension, though I saw it not.Let me recall the past. Was I not taught below that when I saw a Line and inferred a Plane, I in reality saw a Third unrecognized Dimension, not the same as brightness, called "height"? And does it not now follow that, in this region, when I see a Plane and infer a Solid, I really see a Fourth unrecognized Dimension, not the same as colour, but existent, though infinitesimal and incapable of measurement?
Source: A History of Mathematics (1893), p. 248; As cited in: Moritz (1914, 155); Persons and anecdotes.
Introduction<!-- p. 1 -->
Space—Time—Matter (1952)
Context: Space and time are commonly regarded as the forms of existence of the real world, matter as its substance. A definite portion of matter occupies a definite part of space at a definite moment of time. It is in the composite idea of motion that these three fundamental conceptions enter into intimate relationship.
“The third day, I knew it was over. But I tried to make it last for three months.”
On her marriage to Artie Shaw, quoted in interview with Gary Collins, Hour Magazine (1982). [ZCyC5BwtbaE].
On her marriages
Source: 1930s, On my Painting (1938), p. 16