Alaric

“It was humanly impossible to extend to seven billion people the full sympathy that each of them deserved.”
― Neal Stephenson, Seveneves

“Maybe that’s what a leader is, Dinah. The one person who can’t—who shouldn’t—share her problems with anyone else.”
― Neal Stephenson, Seveneves

“He had had many conversations during his long life. Some were fascinating and stayed with him more than a century later. Others were less so. As a younger man he had tolerated those as part of the cost of doing business—a sort of tax that all people must pay in order to take part in civilized society. When he had turned one hundred, he had decided to stop paying that tax. Henceforth he would engage only in conversations that really interested him—which, with a few exceptions for close friends and family members, meant conversations with a purpose.”
― Neal Stephenson, Seveneves

“The Cloud Ark Constitution is now in effect.” Dinah drew breath, knowing what this meant. Markus spelled it out anyway. “This means that all nation-states of Earth, and their governments and constitutions, no longer exist. Their military and civilian chains of command are no more. Oaths you may have taken to them, allegiances you may have held, loyalties you may have felt, citizenships you may have had are now and forever dissolved. The rights granted you by the Cloud Ark Constitution, no more and no less, are your rights. The laws and responsibilities of the Cloud Ark Constitution now bind you. You are citizens of a new nation now, the only nation. Long may it endure.”
― Neal Stephenson, Seveneves