On the Number 26

The 13th even number = 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26

The 3rd heptagonal pyramidal number = 1, 8, 26

Product of the 1st and 6th prime numbers = 2 x 13 = 26

Product of the 1st even and 7th odd numbers = 2 x 13 = 26

Sum of the 1st & 5th square numbers = 1² + 5² = 1 + 25 = 26

Sum of the 6th & 7th even numbers = 12 + 14 = 26

Sum of the 5th, 6th, and 7th Fibonacci numbers = 5 + 8 + 13 = 26
(Leonardo Pisano Fibonacci, 1170-1250)

Sum of the 4th & 8th prime numbers = 7 + 19 = 26

Sum of the 2nd & 9th prime numbers = 3 + 23 = 26

10)

Sum of the 5th through 8th numbers: 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 = 26

11)

Sum of the 1st four Mersenne numbers, (2ⁿ - 1): 1 + 3 + 7 + 15 = 26

12)

Difference in the 2nd pair of amicable numbers = 1210 - 1184 = 26

13)

The 6th & 7th digits of pi = 26

14)

The 21st & 22nd digits of pi = 26

15)

The 67th & 68th digits of phi = 26

16)

Atomic Number of Iron (Fe) = 26 (26 protons & 26 electrons)

17)

Number of letters in the English alphabet = 26

18)

Number of bones in the human foot = 26

19)

Deck of 52 playing cards: 26 cards of red suits & 26 cards of black suits

Carefree Wonder Rose

20) Carefree Wonder Rose
Meilland, France, 1978
Rose Shrub,
('Prarie Princess' x 'Nirvana')
x
('Eyepaint' x 'Rustica')
26 petals,
2.5"-3" diameter

21) Mango Spray Plant
26 leaves

Mango Spray Plant

22)

Every Olympic marathon run since the 1908 Games has been 26 miles, 385 yards.
In 1908, King Edward VII and Queen Alexandria wanted the marathon race to begin
at Windsor Castle outside the city so that the Royal family could view the start.
The distance between the castle and London's Olympic Stadium was 26 miles.
Organizers added extra yards to the finish around a track, 385 to be exact,
so the runners would finish in front of the king and queen's royal box.

23)

Sum of the faces, corners, and edges of a cube = 6 + 8 +12 = 26

24)

Sum of the faces, corners, and edges of an octahedron = 8 + 6 +12 = 26

25)

Number of visible cubies in a Rubik's cube = 26

26)

Error of Gregorian calendar per solar year = 26 seconds

27)

The 26th day of the year = January 26
(Douglas MacArthur was born Jan. 26, 1880, NY Times Obituary)

28)

The Sephiroth of the Middle Pillar are Kether (Crown), Tiphareth (Beauty), Yesod (Foundation),
and Malkuth (Kingdom), whose numerical sum adds to: 1 + 6 + 9 + 10 = 26

29)

Gematria: Yahweh, the Hebrew name for God or Jehovah,
is expressed as a Tetragrammaton of Hebrew letters
Yod, Heh, Vau, Heh or YHWH = 10 + 5 +6 + 5 = 26

30)

At Age 26:
Masaccio (1401-1428) paints Expulsion from Paradise (1427)
Tycho Brahe (1546-1601), astronomer, publishes De Nova Stella (1572)
Rembrandt (1606-1669), paints The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp (1632)
Canaletto (1697-1768) paints St. Marks Square with Basilica (1723)
Samuel T. Coleridge (1772-1834) writes Lyrical Ballads with William Wordsworth (1798)
Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) composes Symphonie Fantastique (1829)
Albert Einstein (1879-1955), publishes 5 papers in Annalen der Physik (1905)
on the photoelectric effect, statistical mechanics, Brownian motion,
special theory of relativity, and relationship between matter & energy: E=mc²
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) paints Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907)
Rudolph Valentino (1895-1926) becomes film idol after starring in The Sheik (1921)
Margaret Mead (1901-1978), anthropologist, publishes Coming of Age in Samoa (1928)
Errol Flynn (1909-1959) becomes heroic film star after Captain Blood (1935)
Joe DiMaggio (1914-1999) sets baseball record by hitting safely in 56 consecutive games (1941)
Grace Kelly (1929-1982) stars in Dial M for Murder, Rear Window, Country Girl (1954)
Charles Revson (1906-1975) starts his own cosmetic company, Revlon, Inc. with $300 (1962)
Zubin Mehta (b. 1936) becomes conductor of Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra (1962)
Barbra Streisand (b. 1942) wins Best Actress Oscar for her first film Funny Girl (1968)
Joe Namath (b. 1943), leads N.Y. Jets to Super Bowl III victory 16-7 over Baltimore Colts (1969)
[Sources: World Almanac Book of Who (1980); Jeremy Baker, Tolstoy's Bicycle (1982)]

31)

God creates man in the 26th verse
of the first book of Genesis:
"And God said, Let us make man in our image,
after our likeness: and let them have dominion
over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl
of the air, and over the cattle, and over
all the earth, and over every creeping
thing that creepeth upon the earth."

32)

The only occurence of 26 in the Bible is I Kings 16:8:
"In the twenty and sixth year of Asa king of Judah began Elah
the son of Baasha to reign over Israel in Tirzah, two years."

33)

In the 26th Psalm, David sings to God for vindication:
Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity.
I have also trusted in the Lord; I shall not slip.
Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my mind and my heart.
For thy lovingkindness is before my eyes, and I have walked in thy truth.
Psalms 26.1-3

34)

26th Hexagram of the I Ching: Ta Ch'u / The Taming Power of the Great

THE JUDGMENT:
THE TAMING POWER OF THE GREAT.
Perseverance furthers.
Not eating at home brings good fortune.
It furthers one to cross the great water.

THE IMAGE:
Under heaven thunder rolls:
All things attain the natural state of innocence.
Thus the kings of old,
Rich in virtue, and in harmony with the time,
Fostered and nourished all beings.

35)

Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Verse 26:
Heavy is the root of light
still is the master of busy
thus a lord might travel all day
but never far from his supplies
even in a guarded camp
his manner is calm and aloof
why would the lord of ten thousand chariots
treat himself lighter than his kingdom
too light he loses his base
too busy he loses command
(translated by Red Pine, Taoteching, Mercury House, San Francisco, 1996)

36)

26th Verse in Chapter 5 of Analects of Confucius:

Confucius said, "It is all over!
I have yet to meet a man who,
on seeing his own faults, blamed himself!"

Confucius (551-479 B.C.),
Analects, Chapter 5, Verse 26 (circa 500 B.C.)

37)

26th Verse in Chapter 18 of Astavakra Gita
(Sage Astavakra's dialogue with King Janaka):
A person liberated in life, performs his action
but would not say it, although he is not a fool.
While living in the world, he is most happy and blessed.
Astavakra Gita Chapter 18, Verse 26 (circa 400 B.C.)
(translated by Radhakamal Mukerjee, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi, 1971, p. 142)

38)

26th Verse of Buddha's Dhammapada: On Vigilance
Thoughtless men of great ignorance sink into negligence.
But the wise man guards vigilance as his supreme treasure.
Buddha, Dhammapada Verse 26 (240 B.C.)
(translated by Harischandra Kaviratna, Dhammapada: Wisdom of the Buddha, 1970)

39)

Buddha's Dhammapada has 26 chapters. The final chapter:
"Who is a Brahman?" (Verses 383-423). Verse 387:
The sun shines by day, the moon by night; the warrior is resplendent in armor
and the Brahman radiant in meditation. But Buddha, the Awakened One,
illumines both day and night by the splendor of his wisdom.
Buddha, Dhammapada Ch. 26, Verse 387 (240 B.C.)
(translated by Harischandra Kaviratna, Dhammapada: Wisdom of the Buddha, 1970)

40)

26th Book of Enoch describes journey to the middle of the earth:
“And I went from thence to the middle of the earth,
and I saw a blessed place in which there were trees with
branches abiding and blooming. And there I saw a holy mountain,
and underneath the mountain to the east there was a stream and
it flowed towards the south.”
— Book of Enoch XXVI.1-3 (circa 105 B.C.-64 B.C.)
translated by R. H. Charles, S.P.C.K., London, 1917, pp. 51-52

41)

26th Tetragram of the T'ai Hsüan Ching: Endeavor / Wu
April 13 (pm) - April 17:

Correlates with Heaven's Mystery:
Yang ch'i exerts itself in he task
of completing things. All things, conforming
their hearts, take control of their own affairs.
Yang Hsiung (53 BC-18 AD),
Canon of Supreme Mystery ( T'ai Hsüan Ching)
(translated by Michael Nylan, 1993)

42)

26th Trigraph of the Ling Ch'i Ching: P'ing An / Peaceful Contentment
The image of deciding doubts
Yin dwells above and below.
Oracle:
Above and below both settled, the mind does not give
birth to perversity. Contented, it has no worries.
Do not believe in rumors.
Verse:
A pair of swallows return to the southern states,
Seeking out the families of Wang and Hsieh.
Amid the carved halls of spring light serene,
They entrust their lives to fate.
Tung-fang Shuo,
Ling Ch'i Ching (circa 222-419)
(trans. Ralph D. Sawyer & Mei-Chün Lee Sawyer, 1995)

43)

Chapter 26 of Mohammed's Holy Koran is titled "The Poets"
My Lord: Grant me wisdom, and join me with the good
And ordain for me a goodly mention among posterity
And make me of the heirs of the garden of bliss...
And as to the poets, those who go astray follow them.
Do you not see that they wander about bewildered in every valley?
And that they say that which they do not do,
Except those who believe and do good and remember Allah much,
and defend themselves after they are oppressed;
and they who act unjustly shall know to what
final place of turning they shall turn back
Mohammed, Holy Koran 26.83-85, 26.224-227 (7th century AD)
(translated by M.H. Shakir, Holy Koran, 1983)

44)

Section 26 of Hui Hai's Zen Teaching on Sudden Illumination:
Q: What is meant by the "the reachable not reached" and by "the unreachable reached?"
A: By the "the reachable not reached" is meant speech not supported by deeds;
by "the unreachable reached" is meant deeds performing what speech fails to reach;
and, when both speech and deeds attain the Goal, this is "complete reaching" or "double reaching".
Hui Hai (circa 788 A.D.), Zen Teaching on Sudden Illumination, Section 26
(translated by John Blofeld, Rider & Co., London, 1962, p. 67)

45)

Section 26 of Huang Po's Zen Teaching on the Transmission of Mind:
Q: How, then, does a man accomplish this comprehension of his own Mind?
A: That which asked the question is your own Mind; but if you were to remain
quiescent and to refrain from the smallest mental activity, its substance
would be seen as a void— formless, unbegotten and indestructible Womb;
in response to circumstances, it transforms itself into phenomena...
Pure and passionless knowledge implies putting an end to the ceaseless flow
of thoughts and images, for in that way you stop creating the karma that
leads to rebirth... Your true nature is something never lost to you even
in moments of delusion, nor is it gained at the moment of Enlightenment...
The Void is all-pervading, spotless beauty; it is the self-existent and
uncreated Absolute... Ah, it is a jewel beyond all price!
Huang Po (died 850 A.D.), Zen Teaching on the Transmission of Mind,
The Wan Ling Record, Section 26
(translated by John Blofeld, Rider & Co., London, 1958, pp. 87-93)

45A)

Section 26 of Record of the Chan Master "Gate of the Clouds":
Someone asked Master Yumen, "What is the absolute concentration
which comprehends every single particle of dust?"
The Master replied, "Water in the bucket, food in the bowl."
Master Yun-Men (864-949),
Record of the Chan Master "Gate of the Clouds"
translated by Urs App, Kodansha International, NY & Tokyo, 1994, p. 97

46)

Case 26 of Hekiganroku: Hyakujo Sits on the Great Sublime Peak
Main Subject: A monk asked Hyakujo, "What is the most wonderful thing?"
Jo said, "I sit alone on this Great Sublime Peak." The monk made a bow.
Jo struck him.
Setcho's Verse:
Across the patriarch's field went galloping
The heavenly horse, Baso's successor,
Different, however, in way of teaching,
In holding fast and letting go.
His actions were quick as lightning,
Always fitting.
The monk came to tweak the tiger's whiskers,
But his efforts made him a laughingstock.
Setcho (980-1052), Hekiganroku, 26 (Blue Cliff Records)
(translated by Katsuki Sekida, Two Zen Classics, 1977, p. 216)

47)

Chou Tun-Yi (1017-1073), Penetrating Book of Changes, Ch. 26:
“Tzu-lu was happy to hear about his mistakes
and his good reputation was unlimited. Nowadays when people have faults
they do not like others to correct them. It is as though a man should
hide his illness and avoid a physician. He would rather destroy his life
than awake. How lamentable!”

48)

Shao Yung (1011-1077), Supreme Principles Governing the World, Section 26:
“The Great Ultimate is the One. It produces the two (yin & yang)
without engaging in activity. The two (in their wonderful changes & transformations) constitute
the spirit. Spirit engenders number, number engenders form, and form engenders concrete things.”
(Wing-Tsit Chan, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, 1963, pp. 492-493)

49)

Verse 26 of Rubáiyát, of Omar Khayyam (1048-1122):
Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss'd
Of the Two Worlds so learnedly— they are thrust
Like foolish Prophets forth; their Words to Scorn
Are scatter'd, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust.
(translated by Edward Fitzgerald, London, 1st edition 1859, 2nd edition 1868)

50)

Section 26 of St. Bernard's On Loving God: discusses the second and third degrees of love:
The first degree of love: man loves himself for his own sake.
The second degree of love: man loves God for his own benefit.
The third degree of love: man loves God for God's sake.
The fourth degree of love: man loves himself for the sake of God.
No longer do we love God because of our necessity, but because we have tasted
and seen how gracious the Lord is'. Our temporal wants have a speech of their
own, proclaiming the benefits they have received from God's favor. Once this
is recognized it will not be hard to fulfill the commandment touching love
to our neighbors; for whosoever loves God aright loves all God's creatures.
Such love is pure, and finds no burden in the precept bidding us purify our souls,
in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren.
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), On Loving God
Chapter IX.26: Of the second and third degrees of love
(Bernard of Clairvaux, On Loving God with Analytical Commentary by Emero Stiegman,
Cistercian Publications, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 1995, pp. 27-29, pp. 118-123)

51)

Chapter 26 of William of Auvergne's The Trinity, or the First Principle:
Life, intellect, and affection, are necessarily one essence, since they are in the human soul...
our intellect in its ultimate perfection is a perfect image of the first-born Word... In this way
what is written in the book of Genesis is clear: "And God created man to his own image."
The image refers to the power, and the likeness to the ultimate act... That the human mind
is one and also a trinity is the point I am making. The speaking intellect and the spoken intellect
and the love of the one for the other are three, and each of these three is the whole essence
of the mind, as in their root and potentiality... The light of spiritual eyes, that is,
of intellect and reason, is the truth... It has now become clear that the essence of the
first generator and of the first-born and of the first gift or first love is one, and by
appropriate terms we have above called them life and light and joy of the first happiness.
William of Auvergne (1180-1249), The Trinity, or the First Principle, Ch. XXVI
(translated by Roland J. Teske & Francis C. Wade,
Marquette University Press, Milwaukee, 1989, pp. 167-177)

52)

Chapter 26 of Rumi's Discourses (Fihi ma fihi):

Speech comes in accordance with the listener's capacity.
Wisdom does not come out by itself if one does not draw it out.
Wisdom comes in proportion to th amount one draws it out and feeds on it.
One who does not use the faculty of listening does not induce a speaker to speak.

God appears a hundred different ways every instant:
every day is He employed in some new work.
Although He may manifest himself in a hundred ways,
no two are ever the same. This very instant you are seeing
God in various traces an deeds. Every moment you see in
various ways that no two of His acts resemble each other...
You too, who are a part of God's power, appear a thousand
different ways every moment and never remain fixed in any fashion.

You call this world a reality because it is visible and tangible,
and those intrinsic ideas of which the world is a branch you call images.
The reality is just the opposite; this world is the image.
The intrinsic idea can produce a hundred worlds like this one,
which can rot, be destroyed, and pass into nothingness.
It can then produce new, better worlds without growing old itself.
It transcends newness and oldness. Only its branches can be qualified
with oldness and newness; and as originator of these, it transcends both.

Jelaluddin Rumi (1207-1273),
Signs of the Unseen: Discourses of Rumi, Chapter 26
(Translated by W. M. Thackston, Jr., Threshold Books, Putney, VT, 1994, pp. 114-126)

53)

Canto 26 of Dante's Paradiso:
(In the 8th Heaven, Sphere of the Fixed Stars, St. John examines Dante on Love):

E io: "Per filosofici argomenti
e per autorità che quinci scende
cotale amor convien che in me si 'mprenti:
ché 'l bene, in quanto ben, come s'intende,
così accende amore, e tanto maggio
quanto più di bontate in sé comprende.
Dunque a l'essenza ov'è tanto avvantaggio,
che ciascun ben che fuor di lei si trova
altro non è ch'un lume di suo raggio,

And I: "By philosophic arguments
and by authority whose source is here,
that love must be imprinted in me; for
the good, once it is understood as such,
enkindles love; and in accord with more
goodness comes greater love. And thus the mind
of anyone who can discern the truth
on which this proof is founded must be moved
to love, more than it loves all else, that Essence

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), Paradiso 26.25-33
( Allen Mandelbaum translation, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1984, pp. 235-237)

54)

Ghazals 26 of The Divan of Hafiz:
When you hear the speech of men of heart, don't say it is wrong.
The problem is, my dear, you are not an expert in speech.
My head does not bow either to this world or to the next.
I never paid attention to the affair of this world.
Your face so beautifully adorned it in my eye.
Last night the voice of your love sounded in my heart.
The space of Hafiz's breast is still full of echoes.
Hafiz (1320-1389),
( translated by Reza Saberi, Divan of Hafez,
University Press of America, Lanham, Maryland, 2002),

55)

Verse 26 of Drg-Drsya-Viveka ("Seer-Seen Discernment") by Bharati Tirtha (c. 1328-1380):
“ Nirvikalpa-Samadhi is that in which the mind becomes steady like the unflickering
flame of a light kept in a place free from wind and in which the student becomes
indifferent to both objects and sounds on account of his complete absorption
in the bliss of the realization of the Self.”
(translated by Swami Nikhilananda, Sri Ramakrishna Ashrama, Mysore, 1964, p. 32)

56)

Line 26 from the Pearl Poet's Purity or Cleanness:

Me mynez on one amonge oper, as Mapew recordez,
pat pus clanness vnclosez a ful cler speche:
pe hapel clene of his hert hapenez ful fayre,
For he schal loke on oure Lorde with a bone chere';

I've in mind one among those whom Matthew mentions
In a discourse on cleanness he clearly insists:
"The man pure in heart is blissful and blessed
For he shall look on our Lord with love in his heart."

Cleanness (c. 1370-1400) Lines 25-28
(Ed. Malcolm Andrew & Ronald Waldron, 1987, p. 59)

57)

Line 26 from the Pearl Poet's Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: Praise for King Arthur

Bot of alle pat here bult, of Bretaygne kynges,
Ay watz Arthur pe hendest, as I haf herde telle.
Forpi an aunter in erde I attle to schawe,
Dat a selly in sizt summe men hit holden,
And an outtrage awenture of Arthurez wonderez.

But of all who lived here as kings of Britain
Arthur was ever the noblest, as I have heard tell
So I intend to tell of one adventure that happened
Which some have considered a marvel to behold,
One of the wonders that are told about Arthur.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (c. 1375-1400) Lines 25-29
( Verse translation by W. S. Merwin, Knopf, NY, 2002, p. 5)

58)

Letter 26 of The Letters of Marsilio Ficino:
Your exceptional humanity and your noble qualities arouse in me
the deepest gratitude... I entreat you, my Lorenzo, to give thanks
to Almighty God, that in our times he decided to unite, in a citizen
of ample fortune, a modest disposition with an illustratrious mind.
In a young man as a private citizen, he combined prudence with power;
in a man of power, restraint with freedom; in a man of affairs,
wisdom with eloquence. Great qualities are in you, Lorenzo, without doubt...
I say these great qualities are in you, but do not originate from you.
For such wonders are the work of omnipotent God alone. Excellent man,
you are the instrument of God, fitted to perform great deeds.
Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499), Letter to Lorenzo de' Medici (Florence, 21st January, 1474)
The Letters of Marsilio Ficino, Vol. I, Shepheard-Walwyn, London, 1975, pp. 65-66

58A)

Section 26 of Wang Yang Ming's Instructions for Practical Living:
The Teacher said: "Knowledge is the beginning of action
and action is the completion of knowledge.
Learning to be a sage involves only one effort.
Knowledge and action should not be separated.
Wang Yang Ming (1472-1529),
Instructions for Practical Living or Ch'uan-hsi lu (1518), I.26
(translated by Wing-tsit Chan, Columbia University Press, NY, 1963, p.30)

59)

Chapter 26 of Cervantes' Don Quixote where he carves verses
on tree barks and on sand in praise of Dulcinea, his beloved lady:

Long live the memory of Amadis of Gaul and let him be imitated so far
as is possible by Don Quixote of La Mancha, of whom it will be said,
as was said of the other, that if he didnot achieve great things,
he died in attempting them; and if I am not repulsed or rejected by
my Dulcinea, it is enough for me, as I have said, to be absent from her...
so he solaced himself with pacing up and down the little meadow, and writing
and carving on the bark of the trees and on the fine sand a multitude of verses
all in harmony with his sadness, and some in praise of Dulcinea...
Adventure-seeking doth he go
Up rugged heights, down rocky valleys,
But hill or dale, or high or low,
Mishap attendeth all his sallies:
Love still pursues him to and fro,
And plies his cruel scourge— ah me! a
Relentless fate, an endless woe;
Don Quixote's tears are on the flow,
And all for distant Dulcinea
Del Toboso.
Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616), Don Quixote Part I, Ch. XXVI (1605)
(translated by John Ormsby)

60)

Astrology & Love in 26th Sonnet of William Shakespeare:
Lord of my love, to whom in vassalage
Thy merit hath my duty strongly knit,
To thee I send this written embassage,
To witness duty, not to show my wit:
Duty so great, which wit so poor as mine
May make seem bare, in wanting words to show it,
But that I hope some good conceit of thine
In thy soul's thought, all naked, will bestow it:
Till whatsoever star that guides my moving,
Points on me graciously with fair aspect,
And puts apparel on my tottered loving,
To show me worthy of thy sweet respect:
Then may I dare to boast how I do love thee;
Till then, not show my head where thou may'st prove me.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), Sonnets XXVI, Commentary

61)

Emblema 26 of Michael Maier's Atalanta Fugiens (1617):

Emblema XXVI: The Tree of Life is the fruit of Human Wisdom.

Epigramma XXVI:
In human affairs there is no greater wisdom,
Than that from which arise wealth and health.
In her right hand she keeps a long life in good health.
but her left hand conceals overwhelming treasures.
When somebody approaches her with head and hand,
She will be for him of the same value as the fruit of the Tree of Life.

Michael Maier (1566-1622), Atalanta Fugiens, 26
(translated by H.M.E. de Jong,
Gardening: Maitreya Three, Shambala, Berkeley, 1972, p. 78)

62)

26th Section of Swedenborg's Worlds in Space (1758):
Since they [spirits & angels] are travellers through the universe and so especially
able to know about systems and worlds outside the solar system, I discussed this
subject with them. They said that the universe contains very many worlds inhabited
by human beings. They were surprised that anyone was what they called so lacking
in judgment as to think that almighty God's heaven was composed of spirits and
angels coming from one world, when compared with the omnipotence of God these
were so few as to be hardly anything, even if there were many thousands of
systems and many thousands of worlds. They went on to say that they knew
of the existence of more than several hundred thousand worlds in the universe;
and yet this is nothing to the infinite Deity.
Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), The Worlds in Space, 26
(translated from Latin by John Chadwick, Swedenborg Society, London, 1997, p. 25)

63)

Chapter 26 of Melville's Moby-Dick (1851):
The chief mate of the Pequod was Starbuck, a native of Nantucket, and a Quaker by descent.
He was a long, earnest man, and though born on an icy coast, seemed well adapted to endure hot
latitudes, his flesh being hard as twice-baked biscuit... Starbuck was no crusader after perils;
in him courage was not a sentiment; but a thing simply useful to him, and always at hand upon all
mortally practical occasions... man, in the ideal, is so noble and so sparkling, such a grand and
glowing creature... That immaculate manliness we feel within ourselves, so far within us, that it
remains intact though all the outer character seem gone... Thou shalt see it shining in the arm
that wields a pick or drives a spike; that democratic dignity which, on all hands, radiates
without end from God; Himself! The great God absolute! The centre and circumference of all
democracy! His omnipresence, our divine equality!
Herman Melville (1819-1891), Moby-Dick or The Whale, Chapter 26: Knights & Squires

64)

26th Poem of Emily Dickinson:

It's all I have to bring today—
This, and my heart beside—
This, and my heart, and all the fields—
And all the meadows wide—
Be sure you count— should I forget
Some one the sum could tell—
This, and my heart, and all the Bees
Which in the Clover dwell.

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

65)

26th New Poem of Emily Dickinson:
We would'nt mind the sun, dear,
if it did'nt set—
Emily Dickinson (Letter 194)
New Poems of Emily Dickinson
(edited by William H. Shurr, University of North Carolin Press, 1993, p. 21)

66)

Sonnet 26 of Rilke's Sonnets to Orpheus: Part 2

Wie ergreift uns der Vogelschrei...
Irgendein einmal erschaffenes Schreien.
Aber die Kinder schon, spielend im Freien,
schreien an wirklichen Schreien vorbei.

Schreien den Zufall. In Zwischenräume
dieses, des Weltraums, (in welchen der heile
Vogelschrei eingeht, wie Menschen in Träume—)
treiben sie ihre, des Kreischens, Keile.

Wehe, wo sind wir? Immer noch freier,
wie die losgerissenen Drachen
jagen wir halbhoch, mit Rändern von Lachen,

windig zerfetzten. —Ordne die Schreier,
singender Gott! dass sie rauschend erwachen,
tragend als Strömung das Haupt und die Leier

How a bird's cry can move us...
Any cry, once made.
But the children, playing outside,
already cry beyond real cries.

Cry about chance. Into gaps that occur
in this world-space (gaps where the pure
birdcry slips through, as we slip into dreams—)
they drive their thin wedges of scream.

Alas, where are we? Always freer,
like kites broken loose and scattered,
we chase through mid-air, laughter-fringed,

wind-tattered,— Arrange these criers,
singing god! that they waken and thunder together,
a current to carry the head and the lyre.

Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926), Sonnets to Orpheus (1921), II.26
(translated by David Young, Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, CT, 1987, p. 107)
(cf. translations by Howard A. Landman and Robert Hunter)

67)

Section 26 in William Carlos Williams, Spring and All:
The crowd at the ball game
is moved uniformly

by a spirit of uselessness
which delights them—

all the exciting detail
of the chase

and the escape, the error
the flash of genius—

all to no end save beauty
the eternal—

So in detail they, the crowd,
are beautiful...

To understand the words as so liberated is to understand poetry.
That they move independently when set free is the mark of their value...
As birds' wings beat the solid air without which none could fly
so words freed by the imagination affirm reality by their flight.
Writing is likened to music. The object would be it seems
to make poetry a pure art, like music. Painting too...
I do not believe that writing is music.
I do no believe writing would gain in quality or
force by seeking to attain to the conditions of music.

William Carlos Williams (1883-1963)
Spring and All, XXVI
Contact Publishing Co., Dijon (1923), pp. 88-92

68)

26th Page lines in James Joyce's Finnegans Wake, (7 samples):
the pure perfection and Leatherbags Reynolds tries your shuffle (26.1)
of geese stubbled for All Angels' Day. So may the priest of seven (26.6)
Totumcalmum, saith: I know thee, metherjar, I know thee, sal- (26.18)
vation boat. For we have performed upon thee, thou abrama- (26.19)
nation, who comest ever without being invoked, whose coming (26.20)
is unknown, all the things which the company of the precentors (26.21)
Everything's going on the same or so it appeals to all of us, (26.25)
James Joyce (1882-1941), Finnegans Wake, (1939)

69)

Sonnet 26 in Edna St. Vincent Millay's Collected Sonnets

Love is not blind. I see with single eye
Your ugliness and other women's grace.
I know the imperfection of your face,—
The eyes too wide apart, the brow too high
For beauty. Learned from earliest youth am I
In loveliness, and cannot so erase
Its letters from my mind, that I may trace
You faultless, I must love until I die.
More subtle is the sovereignty of love:
So am I caught that when I say, "Not fair,"
'Tis but as if I said, "Not here— not there—
Not risen— not writing letters." Well I know
What is this beauty men are babbling of;
I wonder only why they prize it so.

Collected Sonnets of Edna St. Vincent Millay
Harper & Brothers, NY, 1941, p. 26

Edna St. Vincent Millay
(1892-1950)

70)

Verse 26 in Jack Kerouac's Sutra,
Scripture of the Golden Eternity (1960):

All these selfnesses have already vanished.
Einstein measured that this present universe is an
expanding bubble, and you know what that means.

Jack Kerouac (1922-1969)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity
Totem/Corinth Book, NY, 1970, pp. 26-27

71)

Aphorism 26 of Franklin Merrell-Wolff's Consciousness Without an Object (1973):

Consciousness of the field of tensions is the Universe.

Commentaries: This consequence follows at once when it is realized that an object
exists as a tension. Although, in the ultimate sense, every tension is balanced by
its opposite phase, so the equilibrium is never actually destroyed, yet consciousness,
taken in a partial aspect, may comprehend only one phase, or may be only imperfectly
conscious of the counterphase... One result is that any view of a segment of the universe
of objects gives an impression of development, as in some direction. The usual scientific
name for this apparently directed development is "evolution," and a familiar social
interpretation is called "progress."
[Aphorism 27: Consciousness of Equilibrium is Nirvana]
Franklin Merrell-Wolff (1887-1985),
Philosophy of Consciousness Without an Object
(Reflections on the Nature of Transcendental Consciousness)
(Julian Press, NY, 1973, p. 108, pp. 228-230)

72)

There are 32 poems in Robert Creeley's Gnomic Verses
Poem 26:
Door

Everything's before you
were here.
Robert Creeley (born May 21, 1926),
Gnomic Verses, Zasterle Press, La Laguna, 1991, p. 32

73)

Numerology: words whose letters add up to 26

ABRAHAM: 1 + 2 + 9 + 1 + 8 + 1 + 4 = 26

CHINA: 3 + 8 + 9 + 5 + 1 = 26

CRYSTAL: 3 + 9 + 7 + 1 + 2 + 1 + 3 = 26

ENNEADS: 5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 1 + 4 + 1 = 26

TWENTY: 2 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 2 + 7 = 26

UNITY: 3 + 5 + 9 + 2 + 7 = 26

ONE OM = (6 + 5 + 5) + (6 + 4) = 16 + 10 = 26

SUN GOD = (1 + 3 + 5) + (7 + 6 + 4) = 9 + 17 = 26

TEA DANCE = (2 + 5 + 1) + (4 + 1 + 5 + 3 + 5) = 8 + 18 = 26