“As I was a stranger to all the lower country, I thought it absolutely necessary for me to come for ward. A thorough knowledge of the country is not easily obtained; such a one, at least, as is necessary to fix upon the most eligible position for forming a camp. The security of the army, the ease and convenience of the troops, as well as to perform the du ties of my office with a degree of reputation, all conspired to make me wish to fix upon the properest ground for the purpose. This it was impossible for me to do, unless I came on before the troops. And I must confess I saw no objection, as your Excellency had wrote me nothing to the contrary, and what I wrote naturally led to such a measure.”

— Nathanael Greene

Letter to George Washington (July 1778)

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Nathanael Greene 126

American general in the American Revolutionary War 1742–1786

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“When I left your Excellency at Haverstraw, you desired me to go forward and reconnoitre the country, and fix upon some proper position to draw the troops together at, I was a stranger to all this part of the country, and could form no judgment of a proper place, until I had thoroughly examined the ground.”

Nathanael Greene (1742–1786) American general in the American Revolutionary War

Letter to George Washington (July 1778)

“The earlier the position is fixed upon, the better for quartering the army. I wish your Excellency, therefore, as soon as you have decided in your mind the places and force requisite for each side of the North River, and the garrison for these fortifications, would please to acquaint me therewith, as it will be a more perfect guide to my conduct, in making the preparations for cantoning the army.”

Nathanael Greene (1742–1786) American general in the American Revolutionary War

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“Seek not the measure of matter; fix your gaze
Upon the power of reason, not of bulk;
For reason 'tis that all things overcomes.”
Materiae ne quaere modum; sed perspice vires Quas ratio, non pondus habet; ratio omnia vincit.

Marcus Manilius Astronomica

Materiae ne quaere modum; sed perspice vires
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Book IV, line 924, as reported in Harbottle's Dictionary of Quotations (classical) (1897), p. 130.
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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.

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Dreams http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext97/jjdrm10.txt

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Source: The Passionate Life (1983), p. 140

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Nathanael Greene 126

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