"It was true. Men died and civilization died, but before they died they lived. It was not altogether futile."

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More by Poul Anderson

“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?”

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

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

“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

"I have lately spent some Thoughts relative to the Nature of Light, whether it be subject to the common Laws of Motion. In this particular Newton seems to contradict himself. For in his Principia Sect.…"

— Samuel Vince

Mathematics1749–1821

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"My expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21. Everything since then has been a bonus.", December 12, 2004)]"

— Stephen Hawking

Science1942–2018

#life

"That's not my love; that's just your life."

— Fernando Pessoa

Literature1888–1935

#life

"I began to understand that suffering and disappointments and melancholy are there not to vex us or cheapen us or deprive us of our dignity but to mature and transfigure us."

— Hermann Hesse

Literature1861–1948

#life