{ "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/neal-stephenson/the-diamond-age/the-old-guard", "json": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neal-stephenson/the-diamond-age/the-old-guard.json", "markdown": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neal-stephenson/the-diamond-age/the-old-guard.md", "id": "4e2970d8-60dc-45c3-9332-9e0122bdd062", "slug": "the-old-guard", "text": "“The old guard believe in that code because they came to it the hard way. They raise their children to believe in that code — but their children believe it for entirely different reasons.\"\n\n\"They believe it,\" the Constable said, \"because they have been indoctrinated to believe it.\"\n\n\"Yes. Some of them never challenge it — they grow up to be small-minded people, who can tell you what they believe, but not why they believe it. Others become disillusioned by the hypocrisy of the society and rebel.\"\n\n\"Which path do you intend to take, Nell? Conformity or rebellion?\"\n\n\"Neither one. Both ways are simple-minded — they are only for people who cannot cope with contradiction and ambiguity.\"", "language": "en", "author": { "name": "Neal Stephenson", "slug": "neal-stephenson", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neal-stephenson" }, "book": { "title": "The Diamond Age", "slug": "the-diamond-age", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neal-stephenson/the-diamond-age" }, "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "conformity", "slug": "conformity", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/conformity" }, { "name": "upbringing", "slug": "upbringing", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/upbringing" }, { "name": "rebellion", "slug": "rebellion", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/rebellion" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Age#Part_the_Second", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:13", "more_from_book": [ { "id": "c5be0341-adcb-4c4e-aea6-e3b0cbcd29d1", "slug": "its-a-wonderful", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neal-stephenson/the-diamond-age/its-a-wonderful", "text": "\"It's a wonderful thing to be clever, and you should never think otherwise, and you should never stop being that way. But what you learn, as you get older, is that there are a few billion other people in the world all trying to be clever at the same time, and whatever you do with your life will certainly be lost — swallowed up in the ocean — unless you are doing it along with like-minded people who will remember your contributions and carry them forward. That is why the world is divided into tribes.\"", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "intelligence", "slug": "intelligence", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/intelligence" }, { "name": "community", "slug": "community", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/community" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Age#Part_the_Second", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:13" }, { "id": "bca09439-06b4-4176-a57a-1e67f4d3c66b", "slug": "some-people-come", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neal-stephenson/the-diamond-age/some-people-come", "text": "Some people come here because they are on a quest of some sort—trying to find a lost lover, let’s say, or to understand why something terrible happened in their lives, or why there is cruelty in the world, or why they aren’t satisfied with their career. Society has never been good at answering these questions — the sorts of questions you can’t just look up in a reference database.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "suffering", "slug": "suffering", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/suffering" }, { "name": "meaning of life", "slug": "meaning-of-life", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/meaning-of-life" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Age#Part_the_Second", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:13" }, { "id": "7c8d14c2-2677-4aa6-b26a-5302d0535ab7", "slug": "there-are-only", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/neal-stephenson/the-diamond-age/there-are-only", "text": "There are only two industries. This has always been true....There is the industry of things, and the industry of entertainment....After people have everything they need to live, everything else is entertainment. Everything.", "language": "en", "character": null, "chapter": null, "chapter_parent": null, "page": null, "verified": false, "original": null, "other_languages": [], "topics": [ { "name": "business", "slug": "business", "url": "https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/business" } ], "source": { "name": "Wikiquote", "url": "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Age#Part_the_Second", "license": { "label": "CC BY-SA 4.0", "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" } }, "added_at": "2026-09-25T22:55:13" } ] }