Strangeness

Strange or strangeness are terms for the quality of being odd, unusual, surprising, out of the ordinary, not normal, unfamiliar, or not yet part of one's experience. They are derived from Old French estrange, and Latin extraneous, "that which is on the outside."

There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. ~ Francis Bacon

Quotes

By accident most strange, bountiful Fortune —
Now my dear lady — hath mine enemies
Brought to this shore… ~ William Shakespeare, in The Tempest

• There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.
  • Francis Bacon, in "Of Beauty" in Essays (1625).

• The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it's stranger than we can imagine.
  • Arthur C. Clarke paraphrasing J.B.S. Haldane[1]

• The weight of evidence for an extraordinary claim must be proportioned to its strangeness.
  • Laplace, Théorie analytique des probabilités, (1812)

• The Joker: What doesn't kill you makes you stranger.
  • Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan, The Dark Knight, (2008)

• It is the addition of strangeness to beauty that constitutes the romantic character in art.
  • Walter Pater in Appreciation, Postscript (1889).

• But Lord! to see the absurd nature of Englishmen, that cannot forbear laughing and jeering at everything that looks strange.
  • Samuel Pepys, Diary (27 November 1662).

• I happen to find ways that are different from the usual techniques, which seems a little strange at the moment, but I don’t think there’s anything very different about it. I paint on the floor and this isn’t unusual – the Orientals did that.
  • Jackson Pollock interviewed by William Wright, Summer 1950; as quoted in Abstract Expressionism : Creators and Critics (1990) edited by Clifford Ross, p. 142.

• Each age finds its own technique … I mean, the strangeness will wear off and I think we will discover the deeper meanings in modern art.
  • Jackson Pollock, as quoted in Jackson Pollock (1967) by Francis V. O'Connor, p. 79.

• By accident most strange, bountiful Fortune —
  Now my dear lady — hath mine enemies
  Brought to this shore; and by my prescience
  I find my zenith doth depend upon
  A most auspicious star, whose influence
  If now I court not, but omit, my fortunes
  Will ever after droop.
  • William Shakespeare, in The Tempest (c. 1604), Prospero, in Act I, scene ii.

• Full fathom five thy father lies;
  Of his bones are coral made;
  Those are pearls that were his eyes;
  Nothing of him that doth fade,
  But doth suffer a sea-change
  Into something rich and strange.
  • William Shakespeare, in The Tempest (c. 1604), Ariel, in Act I, scene ii.

• There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. Some kind of high powered mutant never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.
  • Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1971).