Quotes
“I do not wish to experience that again.”
“Some people claim that the occasional exposure to fear enhances their enjoyment of more tranquil circumstances.”
“Some people ought to be confined for their own good,” my assistant said, “and to prevent them from spreading dangerous inanities.”
p. 23
Because she fears the past she distrusts the future — it, too, will turn into the past.
“You have to fight back. Can’t afford not to, with your intelligence. People hate intelligence, didn’t you know?”
“Depends on what it does to ’em, doesn’t it?”
“Not so much, Angelo. Dream up a new gadget, they’ll be grateful for a while,” said Feuermann’s voice. “It’ll be only the gadget they love, not the brain that made it—that they fear. They may have enough superstitious dread to worship it—devil-worship—but never will they respect it except superstitiously.”
p. 80
It was a beautiful night, and she thought how wonderful it was to look out without fear (p373)
Creation stories offer a glimpse into the worldview of a people, of how they understand themselves, their place in the world, and the ideals to which they aspire. Likewise, the collective fears and deepest values of a people are also seen in the visage of the monsters they create.
p. 305
Whether we jump or are pushed, or the edge of the known world just crumbles at our feet, we fall, spinning into someplace new and unexpected. Despite our fears of falling, the gifts of the world stand by to catch us.
p. 8
Change scares people. Makes them dangerous.
p. 57
“Most people are good,” says Jim. “But not when they’re afraid.”
p. 138
"[...] And even though I am a Viking...
"I confess, I am afraid
It’s useless to be frightened; fearful men are half dead already.
p. 401
On the other side of anger at those who either peddled false visions of security or incited irrational fears of death, Lucretius offered a feeling of liberation and the power to stare down what had once seemed so menacing. What human beings can and should do, he wrote, is to conquer their fears, accept the fact that they themselves and all the things they encounter are transitory, and embrace the beauty and the pleasure of the world.
The greatest obstacle to pleasure is not pain; it is delusion. The principal enemies of human happiness are inordinate desire—the fantasy of attaining something that exceeds what the finite mortal world allows—and gnawing fear.
