Charlie

“When the landed gentry cut up a seed cake for tea it makes no difference to the cake which of them holds the knife; whoever 'won' Earth's war, it would be the same old crew who stepped up afterward to hold out their plates: the squabble over Truck and the Device was nothing more than a polite difference between friends as to who should have the largest slice”
― M. John Harrison, The Centauri Device

“History is people with ships and weapons wiping out those who forgot to invent them. Every civilisation begins with a genocide. It is the rule of the universe. The immutable law of the jungle, even this one made of concrete. You can see it in the movement of the stars, and in the dance of every atom. The rich will enslave the penniless. The strong will crush the weak.”
― Shehan Karunatilaka, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida

“He [Jonathan Swift] was a great man, and yet he was partially blind. He could only see one thing at a time. His vision of human society is so penetrating, and yet in the last analysis it's false. He couldn't see what the simplest person sees, that life is worth living and human beings, even if they're dirty and ridiculous, are mostly decent. But after all, if he could have seen that I suppose he couldn't have written Gulliver's Travels.”
― George Orwell, Seeing Things As They Are: Selected Journalism and Other Writings

“Some inventions change or die; even institutions die; but the clock is definite and perpetual. The last man on earth, as he bids farewell to the cold, dead sun, is sure to have a watch in his pocket, so as to know the exact hour of his death.”
― Machado de Assis, Memórias póstumas de Brás Cubas