The Collapsing Empire (The Interdependency, #1)

by John Scalzi

The speed of light is not only a good idea, it’s the law.

“Really nice people don’t usually accrue power.”

You’ll be emperox soon enough.” “And then no one can tell me what to do.” “Oh, no,” Batrin said. “Everyone will tell you what to do. But you won’t always have to listen.”

It was overly plush in a manner that suggested that the residents had confused excess for elegance.

“Anyone can be a prophet. You just have to say that what you’re talking about is a reflection of God. Or of the gods. Or of some divine spirit. However you want to put it. Whether those things come true isn’t one way or another about it.”

“I worked in marketing,” Rachela I said. “Before I was a prophet. After, too, but we didn’t call it that after that point.”

“It’s not whether she tells everyone,” Huma said. “It’s whether they believe her.” “It’s the truth.” “Oh, my daughter,” Huma said, and smiled. “Don’t tell me you don’t know how little that actually means.”

Even without the Interdependency, being interdependent was the best way for humanity to survive.

“I’m continually confronted with the human tendency to ignore or deny facts until the last possible instant. And then for several days after that, too.”

“That’s the human brain,” Attavio VI said. “It creates patterns when there aren’t any. Imagines causality when there is none. Imagines a narrative where none exists. It’s in the design of the brain itself. It’s primed to lie.”

I love them more than pie and churros combined.