The Windup Girl

The symbol for the Environment Ministry is the eye of a tortoise, for the long view—the understanding that nothing comes cheap or quickly without a hidden cost.

Nature has become something new. It is ours now, truly. And if our creation devours us, how poetic will that be?

Politics is ugly. Never doubt what small men will do for great power.

Laws are confusing documents. They get in the way of justice.

Sex and hypocrisy. They go together like coffee and cream.

They say in the military that a good battle plan can last as long as five minutes in real fighting. After that, it comes down to if the general is favored by fate and the spirits.

Food should come from the place of its origin, and stay there. It shouldn’t spend its time crisscrossing the globe for the sake of profit. We went down that path once, and it brought us to ruin.

Laws are a fine thing on paper, but painful when no bribery can ease their bind.