# Quote — Alastair Reynolds, House of Suns

> I had read in the story-cube that the speed of light was a universal limit; that in a thousand years of experimentation—despite any number of false dawns—no one had ever managed to circumvent it. This had made me feel hemmed in and claustrophobic—it was like being told I must never run or skip down the long, dreary corridors of the house, but must walk instead, with my neck straight and my hands held behind my back. I felt affronted, as if the speed of light was a personal assault on my liberty. Why should I not go as fast as I pleased? Why should I not skip and run? But I could no more explain why the speed limit existed than I could explain why two and two did not make five. It was simply the way things were, one of those rules—like the edict not to visit certain parts of the house—that were not to be questioned.

- Author: [Alastair Reynolds](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alastair-reynolds.md)
- Book: [House of Suns](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alastair-reynolds/house-of-suns.md)
- Page: 100
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alastair_Reynolds#House_of_Suns_(2008)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/alastair-reynolds/house-of-suns/i-had-read

## More from this book

> She was usually caught with her back to us, a distant figure standing on some cliff or high building with one hand on her hip and another shielding her eyes from the sun, lost in the rapture of scale and scenery, drunk on the very idea of being human, a monkey who had hit the big time.

p. 330 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alastair-reynolds/house-of-suns/she-was-usually.md)

> There had been a human soul in that skull only a few hours earlier, and now no authority in the universe could bring her back. We were like monkeys sitting around a fire that had just extinguished, wondering why the warmth and light had gone away.

p. 307 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alastair-reynolds/house-of-suns/there-had-been.md)

> They’re your children. The more you try to force them to be like you, the more they’re going to flare off in different directions like wild fireworks, the more they’re going to surprise and disappoint you.

p. 485 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alastair-reynolds/house-of-suns/theyre-your-children.md)