alexandra

“Man’s conquest of Nature, if the dreams of some scientific planners are realized, means the rule of a few hundreds of men over billions upon billions of men. There neither is nor can be any simple increase of power on Man’s side. Each new power won by man is a power over man as well. Each advance leaves him weaker as well as stronger. In every victory, besides being the general who triumphs, he is also the prisoner who follows the triumphal car.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man

“Tu marcheras, j'irai dans l'ombre à ton côté : je serai ton esprit, tu seras ma beauté.”
― Edmond Rostand, Cyrano de Bergerac

“There are men whom one has an irresistible desire to tease: men whose virtues one doesn’t share.”
― Graham Greene, The End of the Affair

“There is something which unites magic and applied science while separating both from the ‘wisdom’ of earlier ages. For the wise men of old the cardinal problem had been how to conform the soul to reality, and the solution had been knowledge, self-discipline, and virtue. For magic and applied science alike the problem is how to subdue reality to the wishes of men: the solution is a technique; and both, in the practice of this technique, are ready to do things hitherto regarded as disgusting and impious—such as digging up and mutilating the dead.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man