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“A creature who has spent his life creating one particular representation of his selfdom will die rather than become the antithesis of that representation,”
trained to believe, not to know. Belief can be manipulated. Only knowledge is dangerous.”
To use raw power is to make yourself infinitely vulnerable to greater powers.
“One man sank beneath that water . . . another man arose from it.
Empires do not suffer emptiness of purpose at the time of their creation. It is when they have become established that aims are lost and replaced by vague ritual.
Truth suffers from too much analysis.
‘See, there He is. He makes us one.’ Perhaps religion serves the same purpose, m’Lord.”
“The wise man molds himself—the fool lives only to die.”
“I told him that to endure oneself may be the hardest task in the universe.”
I think what a joy it is to be alive, and I wonder if I’ll ever leap inward to the root of this flesh and know myself as once I was.
The flesh surrenders itself, he thought. Eternity takes back its own. Our bodies stirred these waters briefly, danced with a certain intoxication before the love of life and self, dealt with a few strange ideas, then submitted to the instruments of Time. What can we say of this? I occurred. I am not . . . yet, I occurred.
No matter how exotic human civilization becomes, no matter the developments of life and society nor the complexity of the machine/human interface, there always come interludes of lonely power when the course of humankind, the very future of humankind, depends upon the relatively simple actions of single individuals.
“Nothing is lost. Everything returns later, but you may not recognize the changed form that returns.”
There’s a time for endings—and that’s a good beginning.
The convoluted wording of legalisms grew up around the necessity to hide from ourselves the violence we intend toward each other. Between depriving a man of one hour from his life and depriving him of his life there exists only a difference of degree. You have done violence to him, consumed his energy. Elaborate euphemisms may conceal your intent to kill, but behind any use of power over another the ultimate assumption remains: “I feed on your energy.”
There exists a limit to the force even the most powerful may apply without destroying themselves. Judging this limit is the true artistry of government. Misuse of power is the fatal sin. The law cannot be a tool of vengeance, never a hostage, nor a fortification against the martyrs it has created. You cannot threaten any individual and escape the consequences.
Do not compete with what is happening. To compete is to prepare for failure. Do not be trapped by the need to achieve anything. This way, you achieve everything.”
“There are problems in this universe for which there are no answers,”
