Amanda

“Testaceous turbinated exanguious animals—”
― Neal Stephenson, The Baroque Cycle: Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World

“Mammon led them on, Mammon, the least erected Spirit that fell From heav’n, for ev’n in heav’n his looks and thoughts Were always downward bent, admiring more The riches of Heav’ns pavement, trod’n Gold, Then aught divine or holy else enjoy’d In vision beatific; by him first Men also, and by his suggestion taught, Ransack’d the Center, and with impious hands Rifl’d the bowels of thir mother Earth For Treasures better hid. —MILTON, Paradise Lost”
― Neal Stephenson, The Baroque Cycle: Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World