{
  "type": "quote",
  "site": {
    "name": "Leafy Quotes",
    "language": "en",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com"
  },
  "formats": "Every page has two versions with the same data: JSON (the page address + .json) and markdown (the page address + .md). Append .json or .md to any `url` in this document.",
  "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford/in-alien-flesh/as-kurt-vonnegut",
  "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford/in-alien-flesh/as-kurt-vonnegut.json",
  "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford/in-alien-flesh/as-kurt-vonnegut.md",
  "id": "a903615c-a07d-4bdf-88ba-5bc93c02ff59",
  "slug": "as-kurt-vonnegut",
  "text": "As Kurt Vonnegut pointed out in his first novel, Player Piano, some people love problem-solving and tinkering—and that is the final, irreducible driver of human history. Wars and faiths and leaders come and go, but the problem-solvers’ slow, steady work is the fulcrum upon which history turns.",
  "language": "en",
  "author": {
    "name": "Gregory Benford",
    "slug": "gregory-benford",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford"
  },
  "book": {
    "title": "In Alien Flesh",
    "slug": "in-alien-flesh",
    "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford/in-alien-flesh"
  },
  "character": null,
  "chapter": null,
  "chapter_parent": null,
  "page": 104,
  "verified": false,
  "original": null,
  "other_languages": [],
  "topics": [
    {
      "name": "history",
      "slug": "history",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/history"
    },
    {
      "name": "creativity",
      "slug": "creativity",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/creativity"
    }
  ],
  "source": {
    "name": "Wikiquote",
    "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gregory_Benford#In_Alien_Flesh_(1986)",
    "license": {
      "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
      "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
    }
  },
  "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:21",
  "more_from_book": [
    {
      "id": "f31173c5-d5ee-475b-9486-a7f3ea611d0a",
      "slug": "i-would-have",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford/in-alien-flesh/i-would-have",
      "text": "I would have to look, try to find a bridge that would make plausible what I knew but could scarcely prove. The standards of science are austere, unforgiving—and who would have it differently? I would have to hedge, to take one step back for each two forward, to compare and suggest and contrast, always sticking close to the data. And despite what I thought I knew now, the data would have to lead, they would have to show the way.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": 244,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "science",
          "slug": "science",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/science"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gregory_Benford#In_Alien_Flesh_(1986)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:21"
    },
    {
      "id": "e7c45d41-8bad-4e68-a4ba-5eef036f64d9",
      "slug": "but-the-answers",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford/in-alien-flesh/but-the-answers",
      "text": "But the answers come when they will, one piece at a time.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": 232,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "patience",
          "slug": "patience",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/patience"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gregory_Benford#In_Alien_Flesh_(1986)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:21"
    },
    {
      "id": "dfadba0d-662c-4c0c-b7e0-d8180708cb8a",
      "slug": "talkers-never-acted",
      "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/gregory-benford/in-alien-flesh/talkers-never-acted",
      "text": "Talkers never acted when they could talk.",
      "language": "en",
      "character": null,
      "chapter": null,
      "chapter_parent": null,
      "page": 53,
      "verified": false,
      "original": null,
      "other_languages": [],
      "topics": [
        {
          "name": "words",
          "slug": "words",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/words"
        },
        {
          "name": "taking action",
          "slug": "taking-action",
          "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/taking-action"
        }
      ],
      "source": {
        "name": "Wikiquote",
        "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gregory_Benford#In_Alien_Flesh_(1986)",
        "license": {
          "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/"
        }
      },
      "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:21"
    }
  ]
}