Matthew

“Inside, crushed in an icy tomb, there was a package of the fuel most favored by the space armies of the Anth, their great delicacy: the pizza roll.”
― Robin Sloan, Moonbound

“This was richest and most powerful empire this world has ever known—and what happened to those United States? Don’t tell me about the wars and the famines and the corruption. Those were only skin-deep. At the core, it was a loss of unity that brought the Empire down. They had no idea what those first computerized information networks would do to their shared sense of reality. When climate collapse hit, they couldn’t agree it was happening. They couldn’t even agree the Earth isn’t flat, or that medicine cures disease! And that’s what empires are built on, Alexei. That’s their magical lifeblood. Agreement.”
― Elly Bangs, Unity

“NAI knows about a respondent’s life in intimate detail and its memory, of course, is long. The kids like that. They feel important, known and cared for. They are proud of an accumulating dossier that tells of their escapades, successes, disasters and growth. NAI is a friendly aunt, concerned, critical and worldly. The young make confessions to her they would not dare make to close friends or parents.”
― Ian McEwan, What We Can Know

“30. Don’t aim for perfection. Evolution, and life, only happen through mistakes.”
― Matt Haig, The Humans