"The present molders of the code seemed to have a clear knowledge of just how difficult to make something, to add to its fascination, without making it impossible."

““How can you prove God’s on your side?” Boyd asked.”

“Stupidity, greed, misdirected aggression—or sum it up and call it man.”

“He was sure there must be some catch. Every principle here had an opposite, and both were wrong.”

“He walked on in silence for a while, thinking of all that he had seen. And the sum of his thought was a sickness against the whole hypocritical system that was despoiling an incredibly rich planet.”

“An accident of careless handling at a dumping point had touched off a great atomic explosion, somewhere in central Europe. That country had thought itself attacked during the disarmament hiatus, and had struck at China, which had bombarded Russia, which thought it was being attacked by America. The confusion was straightened out in less than two hours, but by then two-thirds of the world had been killed.”

“Evolution’s logical, unlike religion. Even the Church will agree with that. You have to take religion on faith and you can’t test it by common sense.”