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A Square
An inhabitant of Spaceland who visits Flatland at the start of every millennium in search of a new apostle who can enlighten others regarding the third dimension. A Square first refers to the Sphere as the Stranger since he cannot grasp the concept of a three-dimensional sphere. Although A Square praises and worships the visiting solid for his knowledge of higher Truths, the Sphere still exhibits flaws of his own. Although he himself roams across other worlds to enlighten those who do not know of Spaceland and the third dimension, he initially does not consider the possibility of extradimensional worlds beyond his own. Instead, it is his pupil, A Square, who expresses a greater thirst for knowledge and infers the existence of the fourth, fifth, and even sixth dimensions. The Sphere responds to such questions not with openness, but with irritability, abandoning A Square as his disciple.
The Sphere / The Stranger Quotes in Flatland
The Flatland quotes below are all either spoken by The Sphere / The Stranger or refer to The Sphere / The Stranger . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 17
Quotes
Why will you refuse to listen to reason? I had hoped to find in you—as being a man of sense and an accomplished mathematician—a fit apostle for the Gospel of the Three Dimensions, which I am allowed to preach once only in a thousand years…
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Chapter 18
Quotes
“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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Behold, I am become as a God. For the wise men in our country say that to see all things, or as they express it, omnividence, is the attribute of God alone.
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Chapter 19
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And even as we, who are now in Space, look down on Flatland and see the insides of all things, so of a certainty there is yet above us some higher purer region, whither thou dost surely purpose to lead me…
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Chapter 20
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Yet mark his perfect self-contentment, and hence learn his 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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The Sphere / The Stranger Quotes in Flatland
The Flatland quotes below are all either spoken by The Sphere / The Stranger or refer to The Sphere / The Stranger . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 17
Quotes
Why will you refuse to listen to reason? I had hoped to find in you—as being a man of sense and an accomplished mathematician—a fit apostle for the Gospel of the Three Dimensions, which I am allowed to preach once only in a thousand years…
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Chapter 18
Quotes
“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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Behold, I am become as a God. For the wise men in our country say that to see all things, or as they express it, omnividence, is the attribute of God alone.
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Chapter 19
Quotes
And even as we, who are now in Space, look down on Flatland and see the insides of all things, so of a certainty there is yet above us some higher purer region, whither thou dost surely purpose to lead me…
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Chapter 20
Quotes
Yet mark his perfect self-contentment, and hence learn his 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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