The Rise of Endymion (Hyperion Cantos, #4)

by Dan Simmons

“Superstition has taken a terrible toll on our species. Wars … pogroms … resistance to logic and science and medicine … not to mention gathering power in the hands of people like those who run the Pax.”

“It’s wonderful to preserve tradition, but a healthy organism evolves … culturally and physically.”

“No lifetime is long enough for those who wish to create, Raul. Or for those who simply wish to understand themselves and their lives. It is, perhaps, the curse of being human, but also a blessing.”