The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers, #1)

by Becky Chambers

Acting all sanctimonious while spouting bad info was a terrible way to win a debate, but a great way to piss people off.

“Want and intelligence,” the historian had written, “is a dangerous combination.”

In many ways, the idea of a shared stock of genes drifting through the galaxy is far easier to accept than the daunting notion that none of us may ever have the intellectual capacity to understand how life truly works.

The idea that a loss of potential was somehow worse than a loss of achievement and knowledge was something she had never been able to wrap her brain around.

“We cannot blame ourselves for the wars our parents start. Sometimes the very best thing we can do is walk away.”

People can do terrible things when they feel safe and powerful. Your father had probably gotten his way for so long that he thought he was untouchable, and that is a dangerous way for a person to feel.

The truth is, Rosemary, that you are capable of anything. Good or bad. You always have been, and you always will be. Given the right push, you, too, could do horrible things. That darkness exists within all of us.

The universe is what we make of it. It’s up to you to decide what part you will play.