Sean Harte

“Perhaps there is no providence, no fate, no grand plan, she thinks now. Perhaps we dig our own traps and lie down in them.”
― Emma Donoghue, The Sealed Letter

“He turned to look at her and spoke in a low voice. ‘So many questions Anthea. Perhaps it’s time I asked you a few questions.’ ‘What do you mean.’ ‘Who were you thinking about? This morning?’ ‘What? You mean when we …’ ‘You know what I mean. Who was in your mind?’ ‘I don’t really think while, you know … ‘  ‘I don’t believe you.”
― Elizabeth Tebby Germaine, A MAN WHO SEEMED REAL: A story of love, lies, fear and kindness

“But a crew was never told where its missile was aimed. That sort of knowledge might inspire doubt. Like four members of a firing squad whose rifles were loaded with three bullets and one blank, a missile crew was expected to obey the order to fire, without bearing personal responsibility for the result.”
― Eric Schlosser, Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety

“Going for the brain.


[He chuckles.] We talk about it today as if it is some feat of magic, like holy water or a silver bullet, but why wouldn’t destruction of the brain be the only way to annihilate these creatures? Isn’t it the only way to annihilate us as well?


You mean human beings?


[He nods.] Isn’t that all we are? Just a brain kept alive by a complex and vulnerable machine we call the body? The brain cannot survive if just one part of the machine is destroyed or even deprived of such necessities as food or oxygen. That is the only measurable difference between us and “The Undead.” Their brains do not require a support system to survive, so it is necessary to attack the organ itself.”
― Max Brooks, World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War