Brutalist Barbican Steps

Mathematician, David van Dantig (1900-1959)

“The attempt to apply rational arithmetic to a problem in geometry resulted in the first crisis in the history of mathematics. The two relatively simple problems—the determination of the diagonal of a square and that of the circumference of a circle—revealed the existence of new mathematical beings for which no place could be found within the rational domain.” 

David Van Dantig

Eight Diagonal Lines of Greasepaint

A street performance artist checks his diagonal striped make-up in his little mirror. The stripes are not the “diagonal lines of dried blood” in Sylvia Plath’s quote—but they are ‘diagonal lines’. Diagonal lines of black greasepaint.

Poet, Sylvia Plath (1932-1963)

“I hadn’t, at the last moment, felt like washing off the two diagonal lines of dried blood that marked my cheeks. They seemed touching, and rather spectacular, and I thought I would carry them around with me, like the relic of a dead lover, till they wore off of their own accord.” 

Sylvia Plath

Diagonal Paths

English Raconteur, Quentin Crisp (1908-1999)

“If a man were to look over the fence on one side of his garden and observe that the neighbour on his left had laid his garden path round a central lawn; and were to look over the fence on the other side of his garden and observe that the neighbour on his right had laid his path down the middle of the lawn, and were then to lay his own garden path diagonally from one corner to the other, that man’s soul would be lost. Originality is only to be praised when not prefaced by the look to right and left.

Quentin Crisp (1908-1999)

Zigzag Way

Author, Ruskin Bond (b. 1934)

“I am still on my zigzag way, pursuing the diagonal between reason and heart.”

Ruskin Bond (Rain in the Mountains: Notes from the Himalayas)

Philosophical Shadows

Greek Philosopher, Plato (b. a long time ago!—circa 347 bc)

“He is unworthy of the name of man who is ignorant of the fact that the diagonal of a square is incommensurable with its side.”  

Plato

Hop on and off, and Look up.

Photographer, Lesley Scoble (b. none of your business d. not yet)

“Hop on and hop off. Look up and hold your iPhone at a diagonal—and you will achieve a great crick in the neck.”

Lesley Scoble December 2022

I am joining in the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #228 to explore diagonals. My thanks to Lens-Artist for motivating me to take another look at my photographs and seeing diagonals. Everywhere!