The Dark Forest (Remembrance of Earth’s Past, #2)

by Liu Cixin

Without the fear of heights, there can be no appreciation for the beauty of high places.

Mom, I’m going to be a firefly.

“If I destroy you, what business is it of yours?”

“Dark. It’s so fucking dark,” the captain murmured, and then shot himself.

The universe had once been bright, too. For a short time after the big bang, all matter existed in the form of light, and only after the universe turned to burnt ash did heavier elements precipitate out of the darkness and form planets and life. Darkness was the mother of life and of civilization.

“But in this dark forest, there’s a stupid child called humanity, who has built a bonfire and is standing beside it