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23f29d4
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learn this lesson, that to be self-contented is to be vile and ignorant, and that to aspire is better than to be blindly and impotently happy..
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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f3d9712
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Upward, not Northward
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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cef6a43
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Behold yon miserable creature. That Point is a Being like ourselves, but confined to the non-dimensional Gulf. He is himself his own World, his own Universe; of any other than himself he can form no conception; he knows not Length, nor Breadth, nor Height, for he has had no experience of them; he has no cognizance even of the number Two; nor has he a thought of Plurality, for he is himself his One and All, being really Nothing. Yet mark his..
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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7c237db
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Doubtless we cannot see that other higher Spaceland now, because we have no eye in our stomachs.
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observed-reality
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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f655713
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Distress not yourself if you cannot at first understand the deeper mysteries of Spaceland. By degrees they will dawn upon you.
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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cec6652
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In One Dimensions, did not a moving Point produce a Line with two terminal points? In two Dimensions, did not a moving Line produce a Square wit four terminal points? In Three Dimensions, did not a moving Square produce - did not the eyes of mine behold it - that blessed being, a Cube, with eight terminal points? And in Four Dimensions, shall not a moving Cube - alas, for Analogy, and alas for the Progress of Truth if it be not so - shall n..
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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beaca5f
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Like all great art, it defies the tyrant Time.
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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0d048ae
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Either this is madness or it is Hell." "It is neither," calmly replied the voice of the Sphere, "it is Knowledge; it is Three Dimensions: open your eye once again and try to look steadily."
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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00158b6
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My Lord, you own wisdom has taught me to aspire to One even more great, more beautiful, and more closely approximate to perfection than yourself. As you yourself, superior to all Flatland forms, combine many Circles in One, so doubtless there is One above you who combines many Spheres in One Supreme Existence, surpassing even the Solids of Spaceland. And even as we, who are now in Space, look down on Flatland and see the inside of all thing..
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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927e9b7
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It fills all Space, and what It fills, It is. What It thinks, that It utters; and what It utters, that It hears; and It itself is Thinker, Utterer, Hearer, Thought, Word, Audition; it is the One, and yet the All in All. Ah, the happiness, ah, the happiness of Being!
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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316b925
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Imagine a vast sheet of paper on which straight Lines, Triangles, Squares, Pentagons, Hexagons, and other figures, instead of remaining fixed in their places, move freely about, on or in the surface, but without the power of rising above or sinking below it, very much like shadows--only hard with luminous edges--and you will then have a pretty correct notion of my country and countrymen. Alas, a few years ago, I should have said "my univers..
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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53d643b
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All this very plausible reasoning does not convince me, as it has not convinced the wisest of our Statesmen, that our ancestors erred in laying it down as an axiom of policy that the toleration of Irregularity is incompatible with the safety of the State.
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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35ade38
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The little Hexagon meditated on this a while and then said to me; "But you have been teaching me to raise numbers to the third power: I suppose three-to-the-third must mean something in Geometry; what does it mean?" "Nothing at all," replied I, "not at least in Geometry; for Geometry has only Two Dimensions." And then I began to shew the boy how a Point by moving through a length of three inches makes a Line of three inches, which may be re..
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dimensions
squared
geometry
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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c108c17
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He prayeth well who loveth well Both man and bird and beast. He prayeth best that loveth best All things both great and small;
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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2930ffa
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If our highly pointed triangles of the soldier class are formidable, it may be readily inferred that far more formidable are our women. For if a soldier is a wedge, a women is a needle; being, so to speak, all point, at least at the two extremities. Add to this the power of making herself practically invisible at will, and you will perceive that a female, in Flatland, is a creature by no means to be trifled with.
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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23fdb1c
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In a word, to comport oneself with perfect propriety in Polygonal society, one ought to be a Polygon oneself. Such at least is the painful teaching of my experience.
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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a027ed1
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e traine questa lezione: che l'essere soddisfatti di se significa essere vili e ignoranti, e che e sempre meglio aspirare a qualcosa che essere ciecamente, e impotentemente, felici
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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d523292
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It is only now and then in some very remote and backward agricultural district that an antiquarian may still discover a square house.
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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cd719a7
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Behold yon miserable creature. That Point is a Being like ourselves, but confined to the non-dimensional Gulf. He is himself his own World, his own Universe; of any other than himself he can form no conception; he knows not Length, nor Breadth, nor Height, for he has had no experience of them; he has no cognizance even of the number Two; nor has he a thought of Plurality; for he is himself his One and All, being really Nothing. Yet mark his..
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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764d9f1
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The whole of the Targum deserves study as shewing how textual ambiguity or corruption may combine with doctrinal prepossession to modify tradition; Chapter II, Section 2, Paragraph 1171
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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b320ce9
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Few are the hearts whose happy lot it is at once to recognize in each other's voices the partner intended for them by Providence, and to fly into a reciprocal and perfectly harmonious embrace. With most of us the courtship is of long duration.
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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69b1c4c
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theologian
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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f596e3e
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Imagine a vast sheet of paper on which straight Lines, Triangles, Squares, Pentagons, Hexagons, and other figures, instead of remaining fixed in their places, move freely about, on or in the surface, but without the power of rising above or sinking below it, very much like shadows--only hard with luminous edges--and you will then have a pretty correct notion of my country and countrymen.
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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6767d17
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It is a Law of Nature with us that a male child shall have one more side than his father, so that each generation shall rise (as a rule) one step in the scale of development and nobility. Thus the son of a Square is a Pentagon; the son of a Pentagon, a Hexagon; and so on.
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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57efcb3
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Yet at least we can admire the wise Prearrangement which has ordained that, as they have no hopes, so they shall have no memory to recall, and no forethought to anticipate, the miseries and humiliations which are at once a necessity of their existence and the basis of the constitution of Flatland.
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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7a82926
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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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Edwin A. Abbott |
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2c36d33
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Spaceland, whose appreciation has, with unexpected celerity, required a
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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3cdbf30
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If a man with a triangular front and a polygonal back were allowed to exist and to propagate a still more Irregular posterity, what would become of the arts of life? Are the houses and doors and churches in Flatland to be altered in order to accommodate such monsters?
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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ecc2b6e
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Moreover a blunt and stolid regard for literal truth indisposes them to make those lavish promises by which the more judicious Circle can in a moment pacify his consort. The result is massacre;
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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40255d7
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To comport oneself with perfect propriety in Polygonal society, one ought to be a Polygon oneself.
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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1764062
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Once a Woman, always a Woman" is a Decree of Nature; and the very Laws of Evolution seem suspended in her disfavour. Yet at least we can admire the wise Prearrangement which has ordained that, as they have no hopes, so they shall have no memory to recall, and no forethought to anticipate, the miseries and humiliations which are at once a necessity of their existence and the basis of the constitution of Flatland."
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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9b89d63
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the birth of children is too important a matter to have been allowed to depend upon such an accident as proximity.
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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2ad9d92
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so that even a Woman in reasonable health can journey several furlongs northward without much difficulty--
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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88fa926
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Osserva quella miserabile creatura. Quel Punto e un Essere come noi, ma confinato nel baratro adimensionale. Egli stesso e tutto il suo Mondo, tutto il suo Universo; egli non puo concepire altri fuor di se stesso: egli non conosce lunghezza, ne larghezza, ne altezza, poiche non ne ha esperienza; non ha cognizione nemmeno del numero Due; ne ha un'idea della pluralita, poiche egli e in se stesso il suo Uno e il suo Tutto, essendo in realta Ni..
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science-quotes
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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4874f0c
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True," said the Sphere; "it appears to you a Plane, because you are not accustomed to light and shade and perspective; just as in Flatland a Hexagon would appear a Straight Line to one who has not the Art of Sight Recognition. But in reality it is a Solid, as you shall learn by the sense of Feeling." He"
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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eeadf62
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Well, then, if a Point by moving three inches, makes a Line of three inches represented by 3; and if a straight Line of three inches, moving parallel to itself, makes a Square of three inches every way, represented by 32; it must be that a Square of three inches every way, moving somehow parallel to itself (but I don't see how) must make Something else (but I don't see what) of three inches every way--and this must be represented by 33." "G..
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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3f82c21
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All faults or defects, from the slightest misconduct to the most flagitious crime, Pantocyclus attributed to some deviation from perfect Regularity in the bodily figure, caused perhaps (if not congenital) by some collision in a crowd; by neglect to take exercise, or by taking too much of it; or even by a sudden change of temperature, resulting in a shrinkage or expansion in some too susceptible part of the frame. Therefore, concluded that i..
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morality
humor
punishment
right-and-wrong
logic
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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8bf440d
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Avoid exaggerations.
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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d5d0c5f
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There are not wanting, it is true, some promulgators of paradoxes who maintain that there is no necessary connection between geometrical and moral Irregularity.
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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a3ccd53
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lw knt rjlan mnTqy - m` 'nny 'rtb b`D lshy fy kwnk rjl - l'nk tmtlk fym ybdw Swt wHd, wlkn lw knt ldyk dhr@ mn lmnTq, lstm`t l~ Swt l`ql, 'nt tTlb mny 'n 'Sdq 'n hnk nw` 'khr mn lHrk@ Gyr tlk lty 'rh kl ywm , w 'n bdwry 'Tlb mnk 'n tSf blklmt 'w tbyn `n Tryq lHrk@ dhlk lkhT lakhr ldhy ttHdth `nh, wlknk bdlan mn 'n ttHrk tmrs nw` mn lHyl lsHryW@ llkhtf wm`wd@ lZhwr mr@ 'khr~, wbdlan mn 'n tqdm ly Swr@ wDH@ l`lmk ljdyd, tkhbrny fqT b'Twl nHw ..
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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6f1b876
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S]uddenly the course of events was completely changed by one of those picturesque incidents which Statesmen ought never to neglect, often to anticipate, and sometimes perhaps to originate, because of the absurdly disproportionate power with which they appeal to the sympathies of the populace.
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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58ac22a
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n lrD `n ldht mrdf llnHTT wljhl, wTmwH lmr khyr lh mn qn`@ zy'f@ t`my `ynyh wtGul ydyh,
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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4f68d34
|
Yet mark his perfect self-contentment, and hence learn this lesson, that to be self-contented is to be vile and ignorant, and that to aspire is better than to be blindly and impotently happy.
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Edwin A. Abbott |
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6e43931
|
nW lrD `n ldht mrdf llnHTT wljhl, wTmwH lmr khyrun lh mn qn`@ zy'f@ t`my `ynyh wtuGlW ydyh
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satisfaction
flatland
conviction
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Edwin A. Abbott |