Gerald

“I'll have to jump around like sodium in the rain.”
― Poul Anderson, A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows

“Among peoples of such mixed natures, such diverse histories and philosophies, and different ways of life, most administrative problems are problems of a choice of whims, of changing and conflicting goals; not how to do what the people want done, but what they want done, and whether their next generation will want it enough to make work on it, now, worthwhile.'
'They sound insane,' Trobt said. 'Are your administrators supposed to serve the flickering goals of demented minds?'
'We must weigh values. What is considered good may be a matter of viewpoint, and may change from place to place, from generation to generation. In determining what people feel and what their unvoiced wants are, a talent of strategy, and an impatience with the illogic of others, are not qualifications.”
― Charles V. DeVet, Second Game

“What are these two lies - these Illusions - that for too long have done their best to keep us from a real peace where we can still remain human? One is certainly the glory of war. It offers us cheaply, but with tragic results, a sense of power in the face of that 20th Century helplessness and powerlessness we hear so much about. War is about the power that fear demands of us, isn't it? Power, after all (the lie assures us), is what the world is really about, isn't it? The meek are fools. The reasonable are suckers. If you really believe in your country, your family, your values, you will wage war to protect them - because there is indeed an Enemy out there and the Enemy, like a host of fallen angels, is out to destroy everything you value. By waging war you'll be redeemed by war's very violence, won't you? The consequences of this are of course terrible: the perpetuation of Power Uber Alles, of war itself, of the assumption that whether we win or lose our submission to Power redeems us.”
― Bruce McAllister

“I make no apologies for you. After all, each one of us is little more than the meager residue of the infinite unrealized possibilities of our lives.”
― Gregory Frost