"The laws of economics are subject to the laws of physics. The physical processes that govern this planet and the continued life upon it place as stringent an upper limit on economic growth as the speed of light does on our knowledge of the universe."

Ian McDonald Literature See all quotes by Ian McDonald →

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“Nationalism, then Islamism, both twentieth-century inventions, destroyed the Greek civilization in Egypt that had endured for three thousand years.”

“He has no belief—faith is beneath his dignity—but he enjoys the designed madness of religion.”

“A chilly piety leaked into the air.”

“Ayşe Erkoç learned long ago that the secret of doing anything illicit in Istanbul is to do it in full public gaze in the clear light of day. No one ever questions the legitimacy of the blatant.”

“Legends should stay legends; otherwise they just become history, when the natural course of things is the other way around, from history to legend.”

“It was fate, and being angry at fate was as futile as being angry at the weather.”

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"The realization that systems are integrated wholes that cannot be understood by analysis was even more shocking in physics than in biology. Ever since Newton, physicists had believed that all physical…"

— Fritjof Capra

Science1939

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"We spoil the dispositions nature has given to women ; we neglect their education, fill their minds with nothing solid, and destine them solely to please, and to please only by their graces or their vi…"

— Anne-Thérèse de Marguenat de Courcelles

Literature1647–1733

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"Young man,the conversation was between Lord Trask and myself. And when someone says something you don't understand ,don't tell him he's crazy. Ask him what he means. What DO you mean Lord Trask?"

— H. Beam Piper

Literature1904–1964

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"She wondered whether her head were so big as to be able to contain all this starry universe, or whether the universe were so little that it would fit within the compass of her human head. She alternat…"

— John Crowley

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