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Zero conflicted with the fundamental philosophical beliefs of the west, for contained within zero are two ideas that were poisonous to western doctrine. Indeed, these concepts would eventually destroy Aristotelian philosophy after its long reign. These dangerous ideas were the void and the infinite.

— Charles Seife Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea (2000)

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The Babylonians invented it, the Greeks banned it, the Hindus worshiped it, and the Church used it to fend off heretics. Now it threatens the foundations of modern physics. For centuries the power of zero savored of the demonic; once harnessed, it became the most important tool in mathematics. For zero, infinity's twin, is not like other numbers. It is both nothing and everything.

Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea (2000)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Charles Seife (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.