- until one selects one datum, one factor, one particular in a confusion of particles, the confusion continues. The one thing selected and used becomes the stable datum for the remainder. (POW, p. 23)
- any body of knowledge is built from one datum. That is its stable datum. Invalidate it and the entire body of knowledge falls apart. A stable datum does not have to be the correct one. It is simply the one that keeps things from being in a confusion and on which others are aligned. (POW, p. 24)
- a datum which keeps things from being in a confusion and around which other data align. (NSOL, p. 66)
See also DOCTRINE OF THE STABLE DATUM.