# Quote — Alastair Reynolds, Revelation Space

> Khouri did not need to be told that Hades was a neutron star, any more than she needed to be told that there was no such thing as a safe close encounter with one. You either kept away or you died; those were the rules, and there was no force in the universe capable of negating them. Gravity ruled, and gravity did not take into account circumstances, or the unfairness of things, or listen to eleventh-hour petitions before reluctantly repealing its laws. Gravity crushed, and near the surface of a neutron star gravity crushed absolutely, until diamond flowed like water; until a mountain collapsed into a millionth of its height.

- Author: [Alastair Reynolds](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alastair-reynolds.md)
- Book: [Revelation Space](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alastair-reynolds/revelation-space.md)
- Page: 554
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alastair_Reynolds#Revelation_Space_(2000)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/alastair-reynolds/revelation-space/khouri-did-not

## More from this book

> “A splendidly inept thing,” Sylveste said, nodding despite himself.
>
> “What?”
>
> “The human capacity for grief. It just isn’t capable of providing an adequate emotional response once the dead exceed a few dozen in number. And it doesn’t just level off—it just gives up, resets itself to zero. Admit it. None of us feel a damn about these people.”

p. 323 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alastair-reynolds/revelation-space/a-splendidly-inept.md)

> “I don’t know.” That was typical Sajaki; like all the genuinely clever people Sylveste had met he knew better than to feign understanding where none existed.

p. 357 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alastair-reynolds/revelation-space/i-dont-know.md)

> I was going to call it a mistake, but you could argue that there are no mistakes in war, only fortunate and less fortunate events.

p. 220 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/alastair-reynolds/revelation-space/i-was-going.md)