The Condition of Muzak

“He complains that I don’t really understand the importance of it all. He thinks my loyalties are sometimes divided.” They were quite a long way behind the men. Mitzi smirked. “Of course, that’s impossible. I haven’t any loyalties at all.”

“I appreciate this quest for national identity,” she said, “but it does seem that most traditions were dropped for the good reason that they were revoltingly cruel and stupid.”

From the ceiling came the miserable, neurotic drone of the Everly Brothers. He let it play, deepening his mood. If a mood was worth having, he thought, it was worth having profoundly.

Stagnation’s no substitute for stability.

Yesterday’s underdog is tomorrow’s tyrant.

Some try to understand the world, while others seek to impose their understanding on it. Unfortunately, Mr. Smiles, these latter folk are those least equipped to perform the operation. Like Frankenstein, my dear Mr. Smiles, they produce a monster.

“There’s more to life than drugs and sex, Mr. Cornelius.”

“There’s more than life to drugs and sex. It’s better than nothing.”

How many generations need to comply in a fallacy before it becomes accepted as truth?

“Better the myth of happiness,” Harlequin murmured, “than the myth of despair.”