If my years as a shatterling had taught me anything, it was that not all questions had answers. Societies had… — Alastair Reynolds

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.

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.

I felt a terrible sadness open inside me, a void through which the winds from the end of the universe were blowing.