The Three-Body Problem (Remembrance of Earth’s Past, #1)

by Liu Cixin

For her, the dense storm of bullets was now no different from a gentle rain, as she could no longer feel anything.

Is it possible that the relationship between humanity and evil is similar to the relationship between the ocean and an iceberg floating on its surface? Both the ocean and the iceberg are made of the same material. That the iceberg seems separate is only because it is in a different form. In reality, it is but a part of the vast ocean.… It was impossible to expect a moral awakening from humankind itself, just like it was impossible to expect humans to lift off the earth by pulling up on their own hair. To achieve moral awakening required a force outside the human race.

The universe itself was transparent; as long as you were sufficiently sharp-eyed, you could see as far as you liked. But the farther you looked, the more mysterious it became.

“Everyone is afraid of something. The enemy must be, too. The more powerful they are, the more they have to lose to their fears.”

Everyone likes to reminisce, but no one wants to listen, and everyone feels annoyed when someone else tells a story.

“No, emptiness is not nothingness. Emptiness is a type of existence. You must use this existential emptiness to fill yourself.”

“In reality, I’m not so detached. I haven’t been able to sleep the last few nights. Every morning when I see the sunrise, it feels like sunset.”

In peace, what had been suppressed by anxiety and fear began to reawaken.

She didn’t find him unpleasant, but her heart was like ashes from which the flame of love could no longer be lit.