"Intelligence is loose in the galaxy. Power is in our hands, for better or worse. We can modify Nature’s rules, if we dare, but we cannot ignore her lessons."

David Brin Literature See all quotes by David Brin →

React to this quote

More by David Brin

“Alas, criticism has always been what human beings, especially leaders, most hate to hear.”

“What hope has any endeavor which is based on hate and fear?”

“Daisy had learned not to pay much heed to techno-fads. To her fell the task of preserving as much as possible, so that when humanity finally did fall, it wouldn’t take everything else to the grave with it.”

““After all,” he muttered, “what can they do to shake the confidence of a fellow who’s got delusions of adequacy?”

“Contrary Brin, David Brin's blog”

“Wisdom. No match for the troublemaker Curiosity.”

Resonant Thoughts

"Here we may mount from this dull Earth, and viewing it from on high, consider whether Nature has laid out all her Cost and Finery upon this small Speck of Dirt."

— Christiaan Huygens

Science1629–1695

#nature

"—when skies are hanged and oceans drowned, the single secret will still be man"

— E. E. Cummings

Literature1894–1962

#nature

"The utmost care and forethought, and no little manipulative skill, are necessary to control the defining power of the lens or detail printing power of a sharply focused negative."

— Alfred Horsley Hinton

Literature1863–1908

#power