Daniel Quinn

In fact, of course, there is no secret knowledge; no one knows anything that can’t be found on a shelf in the public library.

We don’t need prophets to tell us how to live; we can find out for ourselves by consulting what’s actually there.

The problem is that man’s conquest of the world has itself devastated the world.

People say that I’m sour and misanthropic, and I tell them they’re probably right. Argument of any sort, on any subject, has always seemed like a waste of time to me.

The law we’re looking for here is much like that with respect to civilizations. It’s not about civilizations, but it applies to civilizations in the same way that it applies to flocks of birds and herds of deer. It makes no distinction between human civilizations and beehives. It applies to all species without distinction. This is one reason why the law has remained undiscovered in your culture. According to Taker mythology, man is by definition a biological exception. Out of all the millions of species, only one is an end product.

It’s pointless to argue with mythology.

The gazelle and the lion are enemies only in the minds of the Takers.