# Quote — John Brunner, Stand On Zanzibar

> “The whole of modern so-called civilised existence is an attempt to deny reality insofar as it exists. When did Don last look at the stars, when did Norman last get soaked in a rainstorm? The stars as far as these people are concerned are the Manhattan-pattern!” He jerked his thumb at a window beyond which the city’s treasure-house of coloured light glimmered gaudily.

- Author: [John Brunner](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-brunner.md)
- Book: [Stand On Zanzibar](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-brunner/stand-on-zanzibar.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Brunner#Stand_on_Zanzibar_(1968)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-brunner/stand-on-zanzibar/the-whole-of-modern

## More from this book

> LOGIC   The principle governing human intellection. Its nature may be deduced from examining the following propositions, both of which are held by human beings to be true and often by the same people: “I can’t so you musn’t,” and “I can but you musn’t.”

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-brunner/stand-on-zanzibar/logic-the-principle.md)

> Isn’t it typical? We train one man—one ordinary, inoffensive, retiring little man—to be an efficient killing machine and he kills the one person who stood a chance of saving us from ourselves!

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-brunner/stand-on-zanzibar/isnt-it-typical.md)

> What in God’s name is it worth to be human, if we have to be saved from ourselves by a machine?

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/john-brunner/stand-on-zanzibar/what-in-gods.md)