“We don’t have enough evidence to decide either way,” Ricasso said, “so for now we may as well keep open… — Alastair Reynolds

I’m not asking you to open your mind to all manner of nonsense, Doctor, merely to allow for the possibility of things you might previously have dismissed, or failed to give any consideration to whatsoever. Such as the fact that the world was not always this way, and by implication doesn’t have to be this way in the future.

Welcome to politics, Doctor. We don’t get to pick our allies. The best we can hope for is that we don’t despise them quite as much as our enemies.

“And you do not think that this is possible?”

“I’ll believe in anything when I see evidence for it.”