# Quote — M. John Harrison, Light

> They were arrant newcomers, driven by the nouveau enthusiasms of a cowboy economy. They had no idea what they had come for, or how to get it: they only knew they would. They had no idea how to comport themselves. They sensed there was money to be made. They dived right in. They started wars. They stunned into passivity five of the alien races they found in possession of the galaxy and fought the sixth—which they called “the Nastic” out of a mistranslation of the Nastic’s word for “space”—to a wary truce. After that they fought one another.

- Author: [M. John Harrison](https://www.leafyquotes.com/m-john-harrison.md)
- Book: [Light](https://www.leafyquotes.com/m-john-harrison/light.md)
- Page: 181
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/M._John_Harrison#Light_(2002)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/m-john-harrison/light/they-were-arrant

## More from this book

> Generally, it was impossible to understand the motives of aliens.

p. 16 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/m-john-harrison/light/generally-it-was.md)

> People think it’s a failure to live alone. But it isn’t. The failure is to live with someone because you can’t face anything else.

p. 29 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/m-john-harrison/light/people-think-its.md)

> “Everywhere you look it unpacks to infinity. What you look for, you find. And you people can have it. All of it.”
>
> The comfortable generosity of this offer puzzled Kearney, so he decided to ignore it. It seemed meaningless anyway.

p. 390 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/m-john-harrison/light/everywhere-you-look.md)