tractatus 6

Should the mind of man, so far from that of the Godhead, therefore rest upon his own manners and accustomed platitudes that numbers must presuppose mathematics? Nay! With regard to my own method, I assume the personage of the saint who takes Divinity to his actions and passions; therefrom, I have found the fountain of numbers - entities so ugly to Horatius. Numbers rest immutable amidst the rows of seasons and the implacable cycles and epicycles, though our understanding be recombined with new learnings and enterprises. Neither the Greeks, Romans, nor Hebrews - as are available to my esteem - conceived of zero, in spite of its utility to the sciences.