The best foundation that a decision is ever allowed is our fallible assessment of the probabilities. — Poul Anderson

Then he decided that nothing was more impractical than misplaced practicality.

“Not that any simple principle exists, and not that I couldn’t be wrong. But it seems to me—well, that which we are, our society or culture or what you want to name it, has a life and a right of its own.”

He drew breath. “Best beloved,” he said, “if communities didn’t resist encroachments, they’d soon be swallowed by the biggest and greediest. Wouldn’t they? In the end, dead sameness. No challenges, no inspirations from somebody else’s way. What service is it to life if we let that happen?

Man’s duty in this life, he thought, is to choose the lesser evil.