"Inland, all except criminals lived in a tightly pulled net of regulations, duties, social standing, tax collection, expectations of how to act and speak and think—“sort of like late twentieth-century USA” Everard grumbled to himself."

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“Life isn’t a fairy tale; the knight who kills the dragon doesn’t necessarily get the princess. So what? Who’d want to live in a cosmos less rich and various than the real one?”

“Men, whose span is cruelly short, rush nonetheless to death in their youth as to a maiden’s arms.”

“On our Earth, we’ve perforce learned all the knavery there is to know.”

“It was lonely, not even knowing yourself.”

“Heim ignored the mob scene on the 3V, rested his eyes on the cold serenity of the Milky Way and thought that this, at least, would endure.”

“What’s the point of our living all these centuries if we haven’t grown up even a little?”

Resonant Thoughts

"The old and the young, he thought. The old, who do not care; the young, who do not think."

— Clifford D. Simak

Literature1904–1988

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"I apologize for the insensitivity of my remarks with respect to the mayor or his family, however I think it is important to note that this decision involves potential risk to innocent people."

— John Shadegg

Law1949

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"The Soviet constitution guarantees everyone a job. A pretty scary idea, I'd say."

— P. J. O'Rourke

Literature1947–2022

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"He quoted how Galileo was nearly killed for opposing a belief but in India, when Charvak, an atheist, challenged the Vedas with logic and rejected the idea of reincarnation, he was given the title of …"

— Vivek Agnihotri

Entertainment1973

#mind