# Quote — Sheri S. Tepper, The Margarets

> “We have a membership provided the ISTO doesn’t declare all Earthians a barbarian people.”
>
> “I don’t know what that means,” I persisted, even though this wasn’t strictly part of the subject.
>
> Father gritted his teeth. “ISTO recognizes four types of creatures: civilized, semicivilized, barbarians, and animals. Civilized people know about, care about, and protect their environments. Semicivilized people know and care, but can’t do anything…”
>
> “Why not?”
>
> Mother said, “Because something prevents their acting in their own self-interest. Public apathy. Commercial interference. Religious opposition. Governmental corruption. The Gentherans say the humans have a lot of that.”
>
> Father frowned at her and went on. “Barbarians know but don’t care about their worlds, and animals don’t even know.”

- Author: [Sheri S. Tepper](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper.md)
- Book: [The Margarets](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-margarets.md)
- Page: 29
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sheri_S._Tepper#The_Margarets_(2007)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-margarets/we-have-a-membership

## More from this book

> “That is the god of jihad,” she said. “That is the god of crusades. They are identical except for their names.”

p. 55 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-margarets/that-is-the.md)

> The place displayed luxury without comfort, ostentation without art. I hated it.

p. 398 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-margarets/the-place-displayed.md)

> Great wealth breeds great arrogance.

p. 115 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/sheri-s-tepper/the-margarets/great-wealth-breeds.md)