“Again see you not that even stones are conquered by time, that high towers fall and rocks moulder away, that shrines and idols of gods are worn down with decay, and that holy divinity cannot prolong the bounds of fate or struggle against the fixed laws of nature?”
― On the Nature of Things
― On the Nature of Things
“Wonder had gone away, and he had forgotten that all life is only a set of pictures in the brain, among which there is no difference betwixt those born of real things and those born of inward dreamings, and no cause to value one above the other.”
― The Silver Key
― The Silver Key
“What do we know," he had said, "of the world and the universe about us? Our means of receiving impressions are absurdly few, and our notions of surrounding objects infinitely narrow. We see things only as we are constructed to see them, and can gain no idea of their absolute nature. With five feeble senses we pretend to comprehend the boundlessly complex cosmos...”
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“Parents often sacrifice a lot for their offspring, and lengthy, restrictive periods of parental care can sometimes have detrimental or even deadly effects on the parent(s).”
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“In this fashion, knowledge begets questions which beget new technology which provides answers--which in turn beget questions. This is the implacable carousel of research.”
― Earth: An Intimate History
― Earth: An Intimate History
Derek’s 2025 Year in Books
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