Allison

“Chester nods all the way through this, but does not rudely interrupt Randy as a younger nerd would. Your younger nerd takes offense quickly when someone near him begins to utter declarative sentences, because he reads into it an ssertion that he, the nerd, does not already know the information being imparted. But your older nerd has more
self-confidence, and besides, understands that frequently people need to think out loud. And highly advanced nerds will furthermore understand that uttering declarative sentences whose contents are already known to all present is part of the social process of making conversation and therefore should not be construed as aggression under any circumstances.”
― Neal Stephenson, Cryptonomicon

“trying to get Dutch people to prepare for disasters was a little like trying to get English people to watch football on the telly or Americans to buy guns.”
― Neal Stephenson, Termination Shock

“He keeps an axe in his attic.” “Everyone does,”
― Neal Stephenson, Termination Shock

“The next morning the Fellowship, now filled out to a Tolkien-compliant head count of nine, simply walked”
― Neal Stephenson, Termination Shock