The Diamond Age

by Neal Stephenson

One of the insights of the Victorian Revival was that it was not necessarily a good thing for everyone to read a completely different newspaper in the morning; so the higher one rose in the society, the more similar one's Times became to one's peers'.

The universe was a disorderly mess, the only interesting bits being the organized anomalies.

“Yo! Aren't you going to invite the King of the Reptiles?” They looked at me like I was crazy. “Reptiles are obsolete,” said the King of the Shrews. “Reptiles are just retarded birds,” said the King of the Birds, “and so I am your King, thank you very much.”

The difference between stupid and intelligent people—and this is true whether or not they are well-educated—is that intelligent people can handle subtlety.

It is upon moral qualities that a society is ultimately founded. All the prosperity and technological sophistication in the world is of no use without that foundation—

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“Virtue is the root; wealth is the result.' But under the Western ti, wealth comes not from virtue but from cleverness.