#number

Prime numbers are divisible only by 1 and by themselves. They hold their place in the infinite series of natural numbers, squashed, like all numbers, between two others, but one step further than the rest. They are suspicious, solitary numbers, which is why Mattia thought they were wonderful. Sometimes he thought that they had ended up in that sequence by mistake, that they'd been trapped, like pearls strung on a necklace. Other times he suspected that they too would have preferred to be like all others, just ordinary numbers, but for some reason they couldn't do it. this second thought struck him mostly at night, in the chaotic interweaving of images that comes before sleep, when the mind is too weak to tell itself lies. ↗

— Paolo Giordano

#lonliness #numbers #solitude #nature

Courage is poorly housed that dwells in numbers; the lion never counts the herd that are about him, nor weighs how many flocks he has to scatter. ↗

— Aaron Hill

#counts #courage #dwells #flocks #herd

Maybe it will be a great thing when the Baby Boomers finally die out. In real life, it's not a matter of the good guys or the bad guys. Rather, it's big numbers and small numbers that do the counting. ↗

— Jack Bowman

#baby boomers #bad #bad guys #big #boomers

It makes sense for people who are good at fighting to go out and do it-because if they're good at it, that means the fewest number of other people die. ↗

— Mercedes Lackey

#fewest #fighting #go #good #makes

We have repeatedly issued warnings, over a number of years. Following these warnings and these calls, anti-American explosions took place in a number of Islamic countries. ↗

— Osama bin Laden

#calls #countries #explosions #following #islamic

After 13 years, I couldn't accept to be number two. ↗

— Guy Lafleur

#after #i #number #two #years

He told me he was working as an interpreter in a doctor's office in Brookline, Massachusetts, where I was living at the time, and he was translating for a doctor who had a number of Russian patients. On my way home, after running into him, I just heard this phrase in my head. ↗

— Jhumoa Lahiri

#doctor #had #head #heard #him

I would not send a first story anywhere. I would give myself time to write a number of stories. ↗

— Jhumoa Lahiri

#first #give #i #myself #number

He told me he was working as an interpreter in a doctor's office in Brookline, Massachusetts, where I was living at the time, and he was translating for a doctor who had a number of Russian patients. On my way home, after running into him, I just heard this phrase in my head. ↗

— Jhumpa Lahiri

#doctor #had #head #heard #him

If even in science there is no a way of judging a theory but by assessing the number, faith and vocal energy of its supporters, then this must be even more so in the social sciences: truth lies in power. ↗

— Imre Lakatos

#energy #even #faith #judging #lies