David Brin

Quotes

1. How far do we owe loyalty to our creators’ dream? When have we earned the right to dream for ourselves?

   p. 442

2. 

   I’m learning, Maia thought. They keep making mistakes and I keep getting stronger.

   At this rate, someday I may actually gain control over my life.

   p. 531

3. 

   At her station in life, wisdom dictated keeping a low profile.

   And yet...

   p. 61

4. 

   “You think I'm kidding?” the pilot asked.

   “No, we think you're crazy.”

   p. 185

5. 

   Of course, sometimes a species’ invention only benefited itself. Goats developed an ability to eat almost anything, right down to the roots. Goats proliferated. Deserts spread behind them.

   Then another creature appeared, one whose originality was unprecedented. Its numbers grew. And in its wake some other types did flourish. The common cat and dog. The rat. Starlings and pigeons. And the cockroach. Meanwhile, opportunity grew sparse for those less able to share the vast new riches—huge expanses of plowed fields and mowed lawns, streets and parking lots...

   The coming of the grasses had left its mark indelibly on the history of the world.

   So would the Age of Asphalt and Concrete.

   p. 122

6. 

   What kind of man takes a live bomb across the seas in order to blow up other people? People who have mothers and lovers and children, just like him?

   Probably either a professional or a patriot, Alex thought. Or, worse, both.

   p. 524

7. 

   A hallmark of sanity, Alex, is the courage to face even unpleasant points of view.

   p. 40

8. 

   The good side of the world media village was the sense it gave ten billion that each of them had at least some small connection with the whole. The bad side was that no one ever encountered anything, anymore, that was completely new.

   p. 245

9. 

   Knowledge isn’t restrained by the limits of Malthus. Information doesn’t need topsoil to grow in, only freedom. Given eager minds and experimentation, it feeds itself like a chain reaction.

   p. 531

10. 

    The lesson they took home with them was simple; it takes a full belly before a man or woman gives a tinker’s damn about anything as large as a planet.

    p. 493

11. 

    Prison for the crime of puberty—that was how secondary school had seemed, when he really thought back on it.

    p. 462

12. 

    One of life’s joys was to have friends who gave you reality checks...who would call you on your crap before it rose so high you drowned in it.

    p. 311