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“The bodies of which the world is composed are solids, and therefore have three dimensions. Now, three is the most perfect number,—it is the first of numbers, for of one we do not speak as a number, of two we say both, but three is the first number of which we say all. Moreover, it has a beginning, a middle, and an end.”

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— Aristotle

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Live wording check · 2026-10-25

The bodies of which the world is composed are solids, and therefore have three dimensions. Now, three is the most perfect number,—it is the first of numbers, for of one we do not speak as a number, of two we say both, but three is the first number of which we say all. Moreover, it has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Citation: I. 1. as translated by William Whewell and as quoted by Florian Cajori, A History of Physics in its Elementary Branches (1899) as Aristotle's proof that the world is perfect. Listed on https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aristotle (CC BY-SA)
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Wikiquote: Aristotle
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Aristotle. (n.d.). Wikiquote: Aristotle. https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aristotle
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Aristotle (n.d.)
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(Aristotle, n.d.)

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Provenance: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aristotle