Back! back! Away from me, or you must go with me — whither you know not — into the Land of Three Dimensions!"

"Fool! Madman! Irregular!" I exclaimed; "never will I release thee; thou shalt pay the penalty of thine impostures."

"Ha! Is it come to this?" thundered the Stranger: "then meet your fate: out of your Plane you go. Once, twice, thrice! 'Tis done!"

" - Meaning and context.">
QuotesCosmos
Chapter 17. How the Sphere, Having in Vain Tried Words, Resorted to Deeds
“

Back! back! Away from me, or you must go with me — whither you know not — into the Land of Three Dimensions!"

"Fool! Madman! Irregular!" I exclaimed; "never will I release thee; thou shalt pay the penalty of thine impostures."

"Ha! Is it come to this?" thundered the Stranger: "then meet your fate: out of your Plane you go. Once, twice, thrice! 'Tis done!"

— Edwin Abbott Abbott

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "

Back! back! Away from me, or you must go with me — whither you know not — into the Land of Three Dimensions!"

"Fool! Madman! Irregular!" I exclaimed; "never will I release thee; thou shalt pay the penalty of thine impostures."

"Ha! Is it come to this?" thundered the Stranger: "then meet your fate: out of your Plane you go. Once, twice, thrice! 'Tis done!"

" in the context of "Chapter 17. How the Sphere, Having in Vain Tried Words, Resorted to Deeds" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Edwin Abbott Abbott" (Quotes, Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (1884): To The Inhabitants of SPACE IN GENERAL And H. C. IN PARTICULAR This Work is Dedicated By a Humble Native of Flatland In the Hope that Even as he was Initiated into the Mysteries Of THREE Dimensions Having been previously conversant With ONLY TWO So the Citizens of that Celestial Region May aspire yet higher and higher To the Secrets of FOUR FIVE OR EVEN SIX Dimensions Thereby contributing To the Enlargement of THE IMAGINATION And the possible Development Of that most rare and excellent Gift of MODESTY Among the Superior Races Of SOLID HUMANITY, PART II: OTHER WORLDS) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app

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#Edwin Abbott Abbott#dimensionsfool#imposturesha#irregular#exclaimed#thundered#stranger#whither#release#penalty#madman#thrice
Edwin Abbott Abbott

About Edwin Abbott Abbott

Edwin Abbott Abbott (20 December 1838 – 12 October 1926) was an English schoolmaster and theologian, most famous as the author of the social satire Flatland (1884), widely noted for its use of mathematical dimensions in religious and political allegories.