HELENA MENDES

“A group can be defined by an attribute (for example, women, Democrats, lawyers, long-distance runners) or as a specific collection of individuals to whom we can literally point (“those people, right over there, waiting to get into the concert”). A social network is altogether different. While a network, like a group, is a collection of people, it includes something more: a specific set of connections between people in the group. These ties, and the particular pattern of these ties, are often more important than the individual people themselves. They allow groups to do things that a disconnected collection of individuals cannot. The ties explain why the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. And the specific pattern of the ties is crucial to understanding how networks function.”
― Nicholas A. Christakis, Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives

“He shook his head. “We each leave a mark when we act, consequences that roll on. The links to others never end. Everything in the universe is connected through eternity this way.” I watched smoke rising from his pipe, wondering if the smoke would drift through the universe and time forever. “Do you see my point? Because our actions have effects which never end, we must be thoughtful when we act. Our choices must never be random.”
― Pamela Binnings Ewen, The Queen of Paris: A Novel of Coco Chanel