They prevented men from doing anything. But they did nothing themselves. They did not rule, they only… — Ursula K. Le Guin

It seemed, at least, that they had not taught the boy to lie. But they had not taught him to know truth from lies.

The more defensive a society, the more conformist.

He liked the vast openness of sky and prairie, and found loneliness a pleasure with so immense a domain to be alone in.