What point was there in pursuing an ever-elusive popularity? — David Brin

He wasn’t afraid of dying, only of having not done all he could, and not properly spitting in the eye of death when it came for him. That final gesture was important.

“Where there is mind, there is always solution,” Keneenk taught. All problems contained the elements of their answer.

Words penetrated the tank from the outer room. They were tantalizing, like those ghosts of meaning in a great symphony—hinting that the composer had caught a glimpse of something notes could only vaguely convey and words could never even approach.