On the Number 14

The 7th even number = 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14

The 7th composite number = 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14

The 3rd pyramidal number = 1, 5, 14
(Sum of the 1st three square numbers = 1 + 4 + 9 = 14)

Product of the 1st even & 4th odd numbers = 2 x 7 = 14

Sum of the 1st, 2nd, & 4th triangular numbers = 1 + 3 + 10 = 14

Sum of the 1st, 3rd, and 4th prime numbers = 2 + 5 + 7 = 14

Sum of the 1st and 7th Fibonacci numbers = 1 + 13 = 14

Sum of the 1st & 6th even numbers = 2 + 12 = 14

Sum of the 2nd & 5th even numbers = 4 + 10 = 14

10)

Sum of the 3rd & 4th even numbers = 6 + 8 = 14

11)

Sum of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th numbers = 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 = 14

12)

Square root of 2 = 1.414

13)

Factorial 14 = 14!
= 1 x 2 x 3 x 4 x 5 x 6 x 7 x 8 x 9 x 10 x 11 x 12 x 13 x 14
= 87,178,291,200

14)

The 14th digit of pi = 9 (3.14159265358979)

15)

The 2nd & 3rd digits of pi = 14

16)

The 254th & 255th digits of phi = 14

17)

The 14th day of the year = January 14
(Born on January 14, 1875: Dr. Albert Schweitzer,
1952 Nobel Peace Laureate, NY Times Obituary)

18)

Valentine's Day is celebrated on February 14
A Roman martyr St. Valentine died on February 14, 269 A.D)

19)

France's Independence Day is celebrated on July 14
(The French Revolution began on July 14, 1789 with the storming of the Bastille)

20)

Ivory wedding anniversary celebrates 14 years of marriage.

21)

A fortnight has 14 days (two weeks)
(Old English: feowertyne niht = fourteen nights).

22)

A stone is an official British unit of weight equal to 14 pounds (6.35 kilograms)

23)

Number of faces, edges, and corners in a tetrahedron = 4 + 6 + 4 = 14

24)

Number of corners and faces in a cube = 8 + 6 = 14

25)

Number of corners and faces in an octahedron = 6 + 8 = 14

26)

A cuboctahedron is a solid with 14 faces (8 triangles + 6 squares).

27)

Atomic Number of Silicon (Si) = 14 (14 protons & 14 electrons)

28)

Atomic Weight of Nitrogen (N) = 14 (7 protons & 7 neutrons)

29)

The waxing moon takes 14 days to grow to the Full Moon from the New Moon.

30)

Number of phalanges of the human hand = 14

31)

Number of vertabrae in the neck of owls = 14
(Owls can turn their head 3/4 of the way around or 270^o)

32)

Number of lines in a sonnet = 14
(Etymology: Italian sonetto "little song"— a poem usually rhymed, 14 lines long)

33)

N is the 14th letter of the English alphabet .

34)

Nun is the 14th letter
of the Hebrew alphabet,
and means "fish", with a numeric value of 50.

35)

Xi (Ξ ξ) is the 14th letter of the Greek alphabet,
meaning mutual kindness, with numeric value of 60

36)

Saad is the 14th letter of the Arabic alphabet.

37)

Shí Sí is the Chinese ideograph for 14.

38)

XIV is the Roman numeral for 14.

39)

Maigold has 14 petals.

40)

Lavender Pink Peony has 14 petals.

41)

The flag of Myanmar has 14 stars symbolizing its 14 states.
The flag was adopted on January 3, 1974 when Burma
became the Socialist Republic of the Burmese Federation.
Since then it changed its name to Myanmar but not its flag.

42)

The first 14¢ U.S. stamp was issued on May 1, 1923
in Washington D.C. and Muskogee, Oklahoma.
It shows an American Indian—
Brule Sioux Chief Hollow Horn Bear.
The second 14¢ U.S. stamp was issued
on October 6, 1938 in Washington D.C.
as part of the 1938 Presidential Series.
It shows Franklin Pierce (1804-1869),
the 14th President of the United States.

43)

In the year 14 A.D., the first known cook book De Re Coquinaria
(or De Re Culinaria) was written by the Roman gastronome Marcus Gavius Apicius.
He prepares broiled broccoli, eggs with honey & pepper— a dish he calls
ovemele (egg honey), possibly the origin of the English word "omelette"
[James Trager, The People's Chronology (1979), p. 35]

44)

14th verse in Chapter 1 of the King James Version of Genesis:
"And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven
to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs,
and for seasons, and for days, and years"

45)

Number of chapters in the Hosea (Old Testament) = 14

46)

Number of chapters in the Zechariah (Old Testament) = 14

47)

23 occurrences of "fourteen" in the King James Bible
25 occurrences of "fourteenth" in the King James Bible

49)

God commanded Moses and the children of Israel to make burnt offerings
of 14 lambs on all 7 days at the feast of tabernacles
(15th day of the 7th month) See Numbers 29.13-29.32

50)

Jacob served Laban for 14 years ( Genesis 31.41)
and had 14 children & grandchildren with Rachel ( Genesis 46.22)
"There are the sons of Rachel, which were born to Jacob:
all the souls were fourteen

51)

14 generations from Abraham to David:
So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations;
and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations;
and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.
Matthew 1.17

52)

In Matthew Chapter 14, Verse 14, Jesus healed the sick:
And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude,
and was moved with compassion toward them,
and he healed their sick.
Matthew 14.14

53)

14th hexagram of the I Ching: Ta Yu / Possession in Great Measure

THE JUDGMENT
Possession in Great Measure.
Supreme success.

THE IMAGE
Heaven above, the lake below:
The image of TREADING.
Thus the superior man discriminates
between high and low,
And thereby fortifies the thinking of the people.

54)

Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Verse 14:
What cannot be seen is called The Invisible.
What cannot be heard is called The Inaudible.
What cannot be grasped is called The Formless.
these three cannot be fathomed and merge into One.
With no light above nor shade below
Infinite and boundless, it cannot be named.
It returns to nothingness.
This is called the shapeless shape,
the formless form— vague & elusive.
We meet it and do not see its face.
We follow it and do not see its back.
Hold on to the Tao of old in order
to master the things of today.
From this we know the primordial beginning.
This is the thread of the Tao.
(revised translations by D.C. Lau, 1963 & Red Pine, 1996)

55)

Chapter 14 in the Bhagavad Gita
(Krishna tells Arjuna about the 3 gunas):
I will reveal a supreme wisdom, of all wisdom the highest:
sages who have known it have gone hence to supreme perfection...
Sattva, Rajas, Tamas— light, fire, darkness— the three
constituents of nature. They limit the finite bodies the liberty
of their infinite Spirit. Sattva is light & wisdom,
Rajas is passion & action, Tamas is ignorance & inertia...
Who dwells in his inner self, and is the same in pleasure
and pain; to whom gold or stones or earth are one, and
what is pleasing or displeasing leave him in peace;
who is beyond both praise and blame, and whose mind
is steady & quiet; who is the same in honor or disgrace,
and has the same love for enemies or friends, who surrenders
all selfish undertakings — this person has gone beyond
all three powers and can be one with Brahman, the One.
Bhagavad Gita 14.1, 14.5-8, 24-26 (circa 400 BC)
(translated by Juan Mascaró, Penguin, 1962, pp. 103-105)

56)

14th Book of Enoch Dream Vision of Enoch:
“I saw in my sleep what I will now say with a tongue of flesh and
with the breath of my mouth... the winds in the vision caused me to fly
and lifted me upward, and bore me into heaven... and the entire portal
stood open before me, and it was built of flames of fire. ”
— Book of Enoch XIV.2, 8, 15-17 (circa 105 B.C.-64 B.C.)

57)

Chapter 14 of Mohammed's Holy Koran is titled "Abraham"
And those who believe and do good are made to enter gardens,
beneath which rivers flow, to abide in them by their
Lord's permission; their greeting therein is, Peace.
Allah is He Who created the heavens and the earth and
sent down water from the clouds, then brought
forth with it fruits as a sustenance for you.
And He has made subservient to you the sun and
the moon pursuing their courses, and He has
made subservient to you the night and the day.
Mohammed, Holy Koran 14.23, 14.32-33 (7th century AD)
(translated by M.H. Shakir, Holy Koran, 1983)

58)

14th Discourse of Valmiki's Yoga Vasishtha:
At last the king sent Shuka Deva to his private apartments,
and surrounded him with all the royal luxuries. Many
temptations were placed in the way of the young Brahmin.
The starvation of fourteen days followed by
the luxuries of the royal palace made no impression
of the mind of Shuka Deva, just as a raging gale
does not move the mighty Himalayan peaks.
Valmiki (c. 750 AD), Yoga Vasishtha, 14.36-37
The World Within the Mind (4th edition)
(translated by Hari Prasad Shastri, Shanti Sadan, London, 1969, p. 85)

59)

Section 14 of Hui Hai's Zen Teaching on Sudden Illumination:
To comprehend that mind is formless and intangible is to possess
the Dharmakaya of the void. If you understand the meaning of all this,
it implies that you know there is nothing to be achieved. Realizing that
there is nothing tangible, nothing achievable— this is achieving the
Dharmakaya of Buddha-teaching... According to Buddha's teaching,
someone who wins and achieves things is a person full of self-conceit.
Hui Hai (circa 788 A.D.),
Zen Teaching on Sudden Illumination, Section 14
(translated by John Blofeld, Rider & Co., London, 1962)

60)

Section 14 of Huang Po's
Zen Teaching on the Transmission of Mind:
This spiritually enlightening nature is without beginning,
as ancient as the Void, subject neither to birth nor death,
neither existing nor not existing, neither impure nore pure,
neither noisy nor silent, neither old nor young, occupying no space,
having netiher inside nor outside, size nor form, color nor sound...
This nature is Mind; Mind is the Buddha, and the Buddha is the Dharma.
Any thought apart from this truth is entirely a wrong thought...
Any mental process must lead to error. There is just transmission
of Mind with Mind. This is the proper view to hold. Be careful
not to look outwards to material surroundings.
Huang Po (died 850 A.D.),
Zen Teaching on the Transmission of Mind,
The Chün Chou Record, Section 14
(translated by John Blofeld, Rider & Co., London, 1958, pp. 40-42)

61)

Chou Tun-Yi (1017-1073), Penetrating Book of Changes,
Chapter 14: Devotion to the Essence
When essence prevails, it is good,
but when name prevails, it is shameful.
Therefore the superior man advances his virtue
and cultivate all aspects of his life with diligence.
The superior man stays close to virtue and be as
far away from shame as possible. On the other hand,
the inferior man is simply insincere. Therefore
the superior man is at ease at all times,
whereas the inferior man is anxious at all times.

62)

Shao Yung (1011-1077), Supreme Principles Governing the World, Section 14:
The origin of Heaven and Earth is based on the principle
of harmony. Man is central in the universe, and the mind is central to man.
The sun is most glorious and the moon is full when they are in the central position.
Therefore, the superior man highly values the principle of centrality.
(Wing-Tsit Chan, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy 1963, pp. 492-493)

63)

Verse 14 of Rubáiyát, of Omar Khayyam (1048-1122):
Look to the blowing Rose about us— "Lo,
Laughing," she says, "into the world I blow,
At once the silken tassel of my Purse
Tear, and its Treasure on the Garden throw."
(translated by Edward Fitzgerald, London, 1st edition 1859, 2nd edition 1868)

64)

Canto 14 of Dante's Paradiso:
(Dante's soul blossoms in the Sun's Sphere; Celebration of the Trinity):

Do tell him if that light with which your soul
blossoms will stay with you eternally
even as it is now; and if it stays,

That One and Two and Three who ever lives
and ever reigns in Three and Two and One,
not circumscribed and circumscribing all,

was sung three times by each and all those souls
with such a melody that it would be
appropriate reward for every merit.

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), Paradiso 14.13-15, 14.28-33
( Allen Mandelbaum translation, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1984, pp. 86-87)

65)

Verse 14 of Drg-Drsya-Viveka ("Seer-Seen Discernment")
by Bharati Tirtha (c. 1328-1380):
“ The manifesting of all names and forms in the entity which is
Being-Consciousness-Bliss and which is the same as Brahman,
like the forms in the ocean, is known as creation”
(translated by Swami Nikhilananda, Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama, Mysore, 1964, p. 18)

66)

Astronomy & Astrology in 14th Sonnet of William Shakespeare:
Not from the stars do I my judgement pluck;
And yet methinks I have Astronomy,
But not to tell of good or evil luck,
Of plagues, of dearths, or seasons' quality;
Nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell,
Pointing to each his thunder, rain and wind,
Or say with princes if it shall go well
By oft predict that I in heaven find:
But from thine eyes my knowledge I derive,
And, constant stars, in them I read such art
As truth and beauty shall together thrive,
If from thyself, to store thou wouldst convert;
Or else of thee this I prognosticate:
Thy end is truth's and beauty's doom and date.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Sonnets XIV, Commentary

67)

14th Poem of Emily Dickinson:

One Sister have I in our house,
And one, a hedge away.
There's only one recorded,
But both belong to me.

One came the road that I came—
And wore my last year's gown—
The other, as a bird her nest,
Builded our hearts among.

She did not sing as we did—
It was a different tune—
Herself to her a music
As Bumble bee of June.

Today is far from Childhood—
But up and down the hills
I held her hand the tighter—
Which shortened all the miles—

And still her hum
The years among,
Deceives the Butterfly;
Still in her Eye
The Violets lie
Mouldered this many May.

I spilt the dew—
But took the morn—
I chose this single star
From out the wide night's numbers—
Sue - forevermore!

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
(edited by Thomas H. Johnson, 1955)

68)

14th Verse in Tagore's Gitanjali:

My desires are many and my cry is pitiful,
but ever didst thou save me by hard refusals;
and this strong mercy has been wrought
into my life through and through.
Day by day thou art making me worthy
of the simple, great gifts that thou gavest
to me unasked— this sky and the light,
this body and the life and the mind—
saving me from perils of overmuch desire.
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)
Gitanjali: Song Offerings (1912), Verse 14

69)

Sonnet 14 of Rilke's Sonnets to Orpheus: Part 2

Siehe die Blumen, diese dem Irdischen treuen,
denen wir Schicksal vom Rande des Schicksals leihn,—
aber wer weiss es! Wenn sie ihr Welken bereuen,
ist es an uns, ihre Reue zu sein.

Alles will schweben. Da gehn wir umher wie Beschwerer,
legen auf alles uns selbst, vom Gewichte entzückt;
o was sind wir den Dingen für zehrende Lehrer,
weil ihnen ewige Kindheit glückt.

Nähme sie einer ins innige Schlafen und schliefe
tief mit den Dingen—: o wie käme er leicht,
anders zum anderen Tag, aus der gemeinsamen Tiefe.

Oder er bliebe vielleicht; und sie blühten und priesen
ihn, den Bekehrten, der nun den Ihrigen gleicht,
allen den stillen Geschwistern im Winde der Wiesen.

Look at the flowers, loyal to the earth—
we lend them fate from fate's border, but
who knows if they regret the way they wither?
Maybe it's we who are their real regret.

All things want to float. And we go around like burdens,
setting ourselves on everything, ravished by weight;
what deadly teachers we are, when things in fact
have the gift of forever being children.

If someone took them into inmost sleep and slept
soundly with things— how lightly he might rise
changed, to changed days, from that communal depth.

Or maybe he'd stay; and they'd blossom and praise
him, the convert, now one with those brothers and sisters
all still in the midst of the winds and the meadows.

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926), Sonnets to Orpheus (1921), II.14
(translated by David Young, Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, CT, 1987, p. 83)
(cf. translations by Howard A. Landman and Robert Hunter)

70)

Verse 14 in Jack Kerouac's Sutra, Scripture of the Golden Eternity (1960):

What name shall we give it which hath no name, the common eternal matter of the mind?
If we were to call it essence, some might think it meant perfume, or gold, or honey.
It is not even mind. It is not even discussible, groupable into words; it is not even endless,
in fact it is not even mysterious or inscrutably inexplicable; it is what is; it is that;
it is this. We could easily call the golden eternity "This." But "what's in a name?"
asked Shakespeare. The golden eternity by another name would be as sweet...
In the beginning was the word; before the beginning, in the beginningless infinite
neverendingness, was the essence. Both the word "god" and the essence of the word,
are emptiness. The form of emptiness which is emptiness having taken the form of form,
is what you see and hear and feel right now, and what you taste and smell and think
as you read this. Wait awhile, close your eyes, let your breathing stop three seconds
or so, listen to the inside silence in the womb of the world, let your hands and nerve-ends drop,
re-recognize the bliss you forgot, the emptiness and essence and ecstasy of ever having been and
ever to be the golden eternity. This is the lesson you forgot.
Jack Kerouac (1922-1969)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity
Totem/Corinth Book, NY, 1970, pp. 22-23

71)

Aphorism 14 of Franklin Merrell-Wolff's Consciousness Without an Object (1973):

To be aware of Time is to be aware of the Universe,
and to be aware of the Universe is to be aware of Time.

Franklin Merrell-Wolff (1887-1985),
Philosophy of Consciousness Without an Object
(Reflections on the Nature of Transcendental Consciousness)
(Julian Press, NY, 1973, p. 105, pp. 210-211)

72)

Edwin Morgan's Opening the Cage: 14 Variations on 14 Words
"I have nothing to say and I am saying it and that is poetry." — John Cage

I have to say poetry and is that nothing and am I saying it
I am and I have poetry to say and is that nothing saying it
I am nothing and I have poetry to say and that is saying it
I that am saying poetry have noting and it is I and to say
And I say that I am to have poetry and saying it is nothing
I am poetry and nothing and saying it is to say that I have
To have nothing is poetry and I am saying that and I say it
Poetry is saying I have nothing and I am to say that and it
Saying nothing I am poetry and I have to say that and it is
It is and I am and I have poetry saying say that to nothing
It is saying poetry to nothing and I say I have and am that
Poetry is saying I have it and I am nothing and to say that
And that nothing is poetry I am saying and I have to say it
Saying poetry is nothing and to that I say I am and have it

— Edwin Morgan (born 1920), The Second Life
Edinburgh University Press, 1968

73)

At Age 14:
Marie Antoinette (1755-1793) married (1770) to future French King King Louis XVI (1754-1793) (age 15).
Saint Bernadette (1844-1879), sees vision of Virgin Mary in a grotto at Lourdes (1858).
Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931), conceives the idea of his book The Prophet (1898), published in 1923 (age 40).
Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977) leaves the theater and becomes a post-office messenger boy (1904).
Alfred Hitchcock (1899-19) leaves school and gets a job in engineering drawing (1913).
William Cody (1846-1917) "Buffalo Bill" sets a Pony Express record (1860)
by riding a horse 320 miles at an average speed of 15 miles per hour.
Adam Smith (1723-1790), Scottish economist, enters Glasgow University (1737).
William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806), Prime Minister, enters Cambridge University (1773).
Juliet falls in love with Romeo (age 16), a few days before her 14th birthday
in William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet (1595). Juliet's mother had been
14 years old at the birth of Juliet.
[Sources: World Almanac Book of Who (1980); Jeremy Baker, Tolstoy's Bicycle (1982)]