Difference between revisions 1481987 and 1481991 on enwikiquote

'''''[[w:Significance|Significance]]''''' (2012) ''by [[Lise Sonntag]]''.
 
Set in the modern-day city of Leipzig, Germany, ''Significance'' is a thriller which combines historical fact, mathematical puzzles and conspiracy theory into a tale about the search for a murderer and a hidden secret.

(contracted; show full)
:''From a discussion about the nature of scientific research''

* At times it must have seemed as though he were condemned to being a kind of scholarly performing monkey for the aristocracy; obliged to produce ever more startling and interesting revelations for the entertainment of his masters and to their vicarious glory. (Chapter 16)
:''Referring to the 
great polymath G.W. Leibniz in his later years''⏎
⏎
* "In the second Rosicrucian manifesto, the ''Confessio Fraternitatis'', it says: ''We speak unto you by parables''. Maybe the references to alchemy were an analogy. The eternal flame, the elixir of life and the transmutation of base substances into gold – they could be metaphors. They were searching for scientific truths but advances in science have always been connected with power and wealth. The first person to fashion a club, to sharpen a blade, to pull the trigger of a gun, to harness the power of steam; these are the people who ruled the world of their time." (Chapter 18)