Daniel

“if I examine myself closely enough, I find hints of every objectionable quality known to man.”
― George Alec Effinger, When Gravity Fails

“Suddenly we heard a voice crying, "This is the sea. This is the deep sea. This is the vast and mighty sea." And when we reached the voice it was a man whose back was turned to the sea, and at his ear he held a shell, listening to its murmur.

And my soul said, "Let us pass on. He is the realist, who turns his back on the whole he cannot grasp, and busies himself with a fragment.”
― Kahlil Gibran, The Madman: His Parables and Poems

“Contrary to conventional wisdom, opportunity always knocks more than once whereas a false step can never be retraced.”
― Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, Les Liaisons dangereuses

“The opportunity for evil in itself does not suffice; people need a rationale as well. Consider how unpleasant, how awkward it must be when your neighbor, catching his breath (and that can happen anytime), screams, 'Why?' - or, 'Aren't you ashamed?!' It's embarrassing to stand there without a ready answer. A crowbar makes a poor rebuttal, everybody senses that. The whole trick lies in having the proper grounds to brush aside such aggravating objections. Contemptuously. Everyone wants to commit a villainy without having to feel like a villain.”
― Stanisław Lem, The Futurological Congress: From the Memoirs of Ijon Tichy