** spoiler alert ** Disappointing. Really was. The story was lacking and the philosophy was thin. Not worth reading. Some good quotes though.

Actually, the quotes were really good.


Quotes:

"Winston Niles Rumfoord's smile and handshake dismantled Constant's high opinion of himself as efficiently as carnival roustabouts might dismantle a Ferris wheel."

"Look forward to behaving aristocratically without any outward proofs your aristocracy. Look forward to having nothing but the dignity and intelligence and tenderness that God gave you-look forward to taking those materials and nothing else, and making something exquisite with them."

"You go up to a man, and you say, 'How are things going, Joe?' And he says, 'Oh, fine, fine-couldn't be better.' And you look into his eyes, and you see things really couldn't be much worse. When you get right down to it, everybody's having a perfectly lousy time of it, and I mean everybody. And the hell of it is, nothing seems to help much."

"Life was like that, blanks and glimpses, and now and then maybe that awful flash of pain for doing something wrong."

"'Man,' said Boaz to Unk, trying to conceal the pathetic formlessness of his aspirations. 'We're going to go into some fine places and order us up some fine things, and circulate and carry on with some fine people, and just generally have us a good whoop-dee-doo.'"

"The more pain I train myself to stand, the more I learn. You are afraid of the pain now, Unk, but you won't learn anything if you don't invite the pain. And the more you learn the gladder you will be to stand the pain."

"The recruits' eyes were as empty as the windows of abandoned textile mills."

"Break every link with air and mist,
Seal every open vent;
Make throat as tight as miser's fist,
Keep Life within you pent.
Breathe out, breathe in, no more, no more,
For breathing's for the meek;
And when in deathly space we soar,
Be careful not to speak.
If you with grief or joy are rapt,
Just signal with a tear;
To soul and heart within you trapped
Add speech and atmosphere.
Every man's an island as in lifeless space we roam.
Yes, every man's an island; island fortress, island home."

"All I can see is people. They push me this way, then they push me that-and nothing pleases 'em, and they get madder and madder, on account of nothing makes 'em happy. And they holler at me on account of I ain't made 'em happy, and we all push and pull some more."

"Why thank God? He doesn't care what happens to you. He didn't go to any trouble to get you here safe and sound, any more than He would go to the trouble to kill you."

"It took us that long to realize that a purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved."