Record of a Spaceborn Few (Wayfarers, #3)

by Becky Chambers

There was a difference between being shy and being sequestered. Rarely in history had things turned out well for people who chose to lock themselves away.

Perhaps none of us can truly explain death. Perhaps none of us should.

What was better – a constant safeness that never grew and never changed, or a life of reaching, building, striving, even though you knew you’d never be completely satisfied?

‘Knowledge should always be free,’ she said. ‘What people do with it is up to them.’

Ghosts were imaginary, but hauntings were real.

Figure out what you love, specifically. In detail. Figure out what you want to keep. Figure out what you want to change. Otherwise, it’s not love. It’s clinging to the familiar – to the comfortable – and that’s a dangerous thing for us short-term thinkers to do.

Life meant death, always. But by the same token, death meant life.