The Fuller Memorandum (Laundry Files, #3)

by Charles Stross

(He has the heart of a young boy: keeps it in a reliquary under the coffin he sleeps in.)

Life would be so much simpler if our adversaries could be dealt with by supersonic death on the wing - but alas, Human Resources aren’t so easily defeated.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a sane employee in possession of his wits must be in want of a good manager. Unfortunately it’s also true to say that good management is a bit like oxygen - it’s invisible and you don’t notice its presence until it’s gone, and then you’re sorry.

Here, take this. How about a toast? Confusion to the enemy!’ I raise my glass. ‘What enemy?’ He shrugs: ‘IT, Human Resources, the grim march of time

The trouble is, you can ignore history - but history won’t necessarily ignore you.

unreliability never stopped anyone from using a given technology - just look at Microsoft if you don’t believe me.

when we spot coincidences we assume there’s an intentional actor behind them - and that’s how we create religions.

We have a rich repertoire of primate behavior which includes the urge to suck up to the big bad alpha male, and a tendency to assume that any intelligence smarter or nastier than we are is the top of the pack hierarchy.

To my way of thinking, an omnipotent being who sets up a universe in which thinking beings proliferate, grow old, and die (usually in agony, alone, and in fear) is a cosmic sadist. Consequently, I’d much rather dismiss theology and religious belief as superstitious rubbish. My idea of a comforting belief system is your default English atheism . . . except that I know too much.

I live free in an uncaring cosmos, rather than trapped in a clockwork orrery constructed by a cosmic sadist.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Any sufficiently advanced alien intelligence is indistinguishable from God

Despite the aging biker chick style that she affects, the temperament and training of a steely home-counties matron lurk not too far under the skin; put her in twinset and pearls and you can see her biting the heads off hunt saboteurs.

There is a philosophy by which many people live their lives, and it is this: life is a shit sandwich, but the more bread you’ve got, the less shit you have to eat.

Greed isn’t automatically dangerous on its own, and petty authoritarians aren’t usually dangerous outside their immediate vicinity - but when you combine the two, you get gangsters and dictators and hate-spewing preachers.