# Quote — Alastair Reynolds, House of Suns

> People lived and died and did strange, pointless things to themselves. So did societies, be they city-sized states or galactic empires encompassing thousands of solar systems. Everything came and went, everything was new and bright with promise once and old and worn out later, and everything left a small, diminishing stain on eternity, a mark that time would eventually erase.

- 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: 240
- 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/people-lived-and

## 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)