#nu

Mathematicians call them twin primes: pairs of prime numbers that are close to each other, almost neighbors, but between them there is always an even number that prevents them from truly touching. Numbers like 11 and 13, like 17 and 19, 41 and 43. If you have the patience to go on counting, you discover that these pairs gradually become rarer. You encounter increasingly isolated primes, lost in that silent, measured space made only of ciphers, and you develop a distressing presentiment that the pairs encountered up until that point were accidental, that solitude is the true destiny. Then, just when you’re about to surrender, when you no longer have the desire to go on counting, you come across another pair of twins, clutching each other tightly. There is a common conviction among mathematicians that however far you go, there will always be another two, even if no one can say where exactly, until they are discovered. Mattia thought that he and Alice were like that, twin primes, alone and lost, close but not close enough to really touch each other. He had never told her that. When he imagined confessing these things to her, the thin layer of sweat on his hands evaporated completely and for a good ten minutes he was no longer capable of touching anything. ↗

— Paolo Giordano

#the-solitude-of-prime-numbers #imagination

Oh, wow." "What do you think?" "I tried to imagine, but--I mean...it's so much more--" "Think it's large enough to keep you satisfied for a while?" "It's so much bigger than I expected" He backed away, leaving Beatrice to gaze in wonder at the library that took up half of the second floor. "I think I'll just leave you two alone for a bit," he said with a chuckle. ↗

— Elizabeth Hunter

#giovanni #library #sexual-innuendo #imagination

The endless newsreel clips of nuclear explosions that we saw on TV in the 1960s (were) a powerful incitement to the psychotic imagination, sanctioning *everything*. ↗

— J.G. Ballard

#nuclear #psychosis #tv #imagination

Cei ce afirmă că omul Renașterii simțea, cugeta și acționa ca noi se înșeală enorm. Dimpotrivă, noi avem obiceiul de-acum multisecular de a refula în noi înșine tot ceea ce constituia imagine a lumii la omul Renașterii, până într-atât încât acesta se confundă cu „umbra” noastră, cu ceea ce învățat, prin educație, să extirpăm și să mutilăm din noi înșine. Adăpostim încă în noi un frate debil, din pricină că nu ne putem debarasa complet de el. Dacă el este caricatura noastră - de vreme ce acumulează într-însul trăsăturile noastre cele mai infantile și mai ridicole -, să încercăm pentru o clipă să ne punem în locul lui: firește, este foarte probabil ca el să nu aibă despre noi o imagine mai măgulitoare decât aceea pe care ne-o facem noi despre el. Dar orice comunicare este imposibilă, iar barierele de vârstă nu se ridică niciodată. De aceea, e mică speranța că într-o zi ne-am putea înțelege și strânge mâna. Dar e încă și mai redusă posibilitatea ca acest oaspete neliniștitor din profunzimile noastre să dispară vreodată. În lipsa putinței de a ajunge la o înțelegere cordială, trebuie să învățăm a-l privi fără prea multă superioritate. Căci noi am pierdut ceea ce el avea, iar el nu are ceea ce noi am cucerit. Până la urmă, aceste cantități sunt egale. Dacă noi am realizat câteva dintre dorințele cele mai arzătoare ale imaginației sale, nu trebuie să uităm că am distrus tot pe-atâtea ș că acestea s-ar putea vădi irecuperabile. ↗

— Ioan Petru Culianu

#omul-renașterii #imagination

I refilled the wineglass and took it with me for a nice long bubble bath, where I settled in with Ambrose's guide for low-voltage outdoor lighting. It wasn't thrilling bubble-bath reading material, but I was impressed by his imagination. You wouldn't know from the writing that he'd never actually seen a low-voltage lighting system in someone's yard, much less installed one himself. His descriptions were clear, colorful, and written with authority. The inscription wasn't bad either: To Natalie, You're a high-voltage system as far as I am concerned. ↗

— Lee Goldberg

#fake #fraudulence #inscription #instruction-manual #instructions

I think you learn a lot about a country from its art. To me, it's part of the drama of life. It teaches you that there are places, moments and incidents in other cultures that genuinely have a life of their own. ↗

— Michael Palin

#art #country #cultures #drama #genuinely

I've never been a fan of presidents who place blame on their predecessors or who accept credit for events that couldn't have been engineered so soon in their tenure. ↗

— Kathleen Parker

#been #blame #credit #engineered #events

I've learned a couple of things. And one of the things I have learned is that every experience has pluses and minuses. ↗

— Petra Nemcova

#every #experience #i #i have learned #learned

The nutcracker sits under the holiday tree, a guardian of childhood stories. Feed him walnuts and he will crack open a tale... ↗

— Vera Nazarian

#christmas #holiday #holidays #nutcracker #nuts

Let's put it this way, I like number seven. ↗

— Michael Schumacher

#i #like #number #put #seven