The Minotaur Quotes

“Look only at yourself. Look at how extraordinary your life is. You. You’re the Ship of Theseus, but instead of wooden planks being replaced over the years until there’s nothing left of the original, your life is the result of trillions of individual cells living and dying. In your body alone, there are a hundred quintillion chemical reactions occurring every second—every goddamn second. And that’s you. That’s your life. How is this any more remarkable?”
― Peter Cawdron, The Minotaur

“This is us. The minotaur is our history, our mythology, our psychology, our feeble attempt to understand ourselves stretched out over tens of thousands of years. The minotaur is the reality we all face. What prevails in life? Love or hate? Anger or compassion? Superstition or reason? Violence or understanding? War or peace? Civilized or barbarian?”
― Peter Cawdron, The Minotaur

“He and his husband”
― Peter Cawdron, The Minotaur

“A single drop of water from the ocean holds roughly a million bacteria and upwards of ten million viruses—and all of that could be drawn up in a pipette with a single touch of his thumb on the suction button, sampling 0.3 milliliters, less than 1% of a fluid ounce.”
― Peter Cawdron, The Minotaur

“Space mocks all who venture into her dark void. Light years scorn humanity with distances that defy belief. Neptune and Pluto are only four to six light hours away from Earth, teasing humanity with the sheer desolation and loneliness that separates stars by entire light years! Whether it’s ten, a hundred, a thousand, a million or a billion light years, the physical distances are obscene. For the best part of a century, crewed missions reached a low Earth orbit and, occasionally, the Moon. Humanity thought it had conquered space when it reached orbit, put landers on Mars and sent probes out among the planets. The solar system laughed. The galaxy sighed. The universe itself didn’t even notice.”
― Peter Cawdron, The Minotaur

“But he’s also human. We all are. And us? We’re astronauts. We’re interstellar astronauts. If the press is to be believed, we’re the pick of humanity—the best of all. And that kind of thinking is dangerous. It blinds us to our own shortcomings and flaws… As for Dimitri? He’s shattered. Oh, he won’t admit as much. He’ll lose himself in his work. He’ll push on through, but deep down, he’s struggling against his own demons.”
― Peter Cawdron, The Minotaur

“There’s a red emergency purge valve on his right side—left-handers be damned.”
― Peter Cawdron, The Minotaur

“Mitchell has heard it said that over half of human communication is through facial expressions and body language, while a third of what remains comes across in tone, with less than 10% coming from the actual words used.”
― Peter Cawdron, The Minotaur

“Since when has religion been rational?” Krish asks. “By definition, it’s supernatural—being beyond nature. Jesus walked on water. Muhammad split the Moon in two. None of it is credible. Not if you understand physics.”
― Peter Cawdron, The Minotaur

“The love they shared was rhythmic—like the sun coming up each morning or the appearance of the stars at night. Love was just—there. Whether they were laughing or arguing was irrelevant—they loved each other, and that was enough. Love sustained him like the air filling his lungs with each breath.”
― Peter Cawdron, The Minotaur

“Smart people, though. Intelligent people learn how to hide their demons. They tell themselves they’re different. They’re special. Unique. And they believe it. They fool themselves. They think they can tame their demons. They can’t.”
― Peter Cawdron, The Minotaur

“I don’t think we’ve reckoned with the psychological impact of being so close to death. It’s traumatic. And the thing with trauma is that it’s easy to bury. It’s easy to ignore. It’s easy to pretend you’re okay.”
― Peter Cawdron, The Minotaur

“Fatigue is seldom recognized for what it is—a red light flickering on the dashboard of the mind.”
― Peter Cawdron, The Minotaur

“The only thought going through his head is not to fall. A fall in two gees can break bones. It seems counterintuitive, but under heavy deceleration, falling while standing is like tumbling from a two-story building back on Earth.”
― Peter Cawdron, The Minotaur

“In the words of George R. R. Martin, “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, while the man who never reads lives only once.”
― Peter Cawdron, The Minotaur

“Everyone needs some assurance and kindness from time to time. No one can keep their mental shields up indefinitely. Everyone needs a break. Kindness is as important as sleep.”
― Peter Cawdron, The Minotaur

“Wasn’t it the minotaur they found at the heart of the labyrinth?”
― Peter Cawdron, The Minotaur

“On Earth, CO2 amounts to 0.04% of the air. At a paltry 0.1%, carbon dioxide can impair decision-making. At a mere half a percent, it can reduce cognitive performance without anyone realizing what’s happening. Climb as high as 1%, and it can cause headaches, dizziness and fatigue. At that point, mental clarity is reduced to survival.”
― Peter Cawdron, The Minotaur

“They should have tested the water for microbes. Back on Earth, a single drop of seawater contains thousands of phytoplankton and other microorganisms. Just one drop is an entire world unto itself. A single drop of water from the ocean holds roughly a million bacteria and upwards of ten million viruses—and all of that could be drawn up in a pipette with a single touch of his thumb on the suction button, sampling 0.3 milliliters, less than 1% of a fluid ounce.”
― Peter Cawdron, The Minotaur

“He wishes he had memorized every line on her face that day. And now, she’s gone. Galaxies will collide. Stars will explode. Black holes will form accretion disks the size of entire solar systems and send out jets that span hundreds of light years, but never again will there be another woman as radiant as his wife.”
― Peter Cawdron, The Minotaur

“Mitchell’s never known grief before. Oh, he’s seen others grieving, but he’s never experienced it himself. That’s the curse of the 22nd century. Medical advances have banished most diseases. Aging has been slowed but not stopped. When it comes to the end-of-life experience, most people go out on psilocybin. Magic mushrooms make death a psychedelic trip complete with hallucinations—a voyage of discovery into the unknown. Joy has replaced sorrow. Oh, relatives still miss their loved ones, but death has been sterilized. Death has been scheduled. Death is now seen as a last rite of passage. It completes a life. None of that is true, but it makes the existential fear palatable. Accidents, though, still claim lives.”
― Peter Cawdron, The Minotaur

“Most people exact too high a price on themselves when it comes to hindsight.”
― Peter Cawdron, The Minotaur

“And his wife has warned him against playing Spock, pointing out that it’s the balance of emotions and logic that allows humans to succeed. The most logical person on Earth is the one most run by emotion—they just don’t know it, or they won’t acknowledge it.”
― Peter Cawdron, The Minotaur

“We all have our demons, Mitch. All of us. No one wants to admit as much, but we do.” Jess looks at the thin plastic panel separating the two of them from the living area. She whispers softly under her breath. She taps the side of her head, saying, “Smart people, though. Intelligent people learn how to hide their demons. They tell themselves they’re different. They’re special. Unique. And they believe it. They fool themselves. They think they can tame their demons. They can’t.”
― Peter Cawdron, The Minotaur

“After the failure of social media in the 21st century, the idea of sticking a firehose of information inside people’s heads was abandoned. Rather than acting like a library or a constantly scrolling social media feed, AI neural interfaces are designed to be extensions of the brain rather than competition for thoughts. In the same way that the arms and legs extend the reach of the brain, allowing intent to become action, AI neural interfaces increase connectivity and access to information without flooding the mind. And they’re designed to wake slowly along with the brain rather than to shock it into awareness. Mitchell’s AI assistant won’t become operational until his beta brain waves in the prefrontal cortex—associated with problem-solving—shift into gamma waves, indicating he’s concentrating on solutions. For now, he’s on his own.”
― Peter Cawdron, The Minotaur

“Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs”
― Peter Cawdron, The Minotaur

“No tree can reach up into heaven unless its roots go down into hell. — Carl Jung If you feel pain, you’re alive. If you feel other people’s pain, you’re human. — Leo Tolstoy People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own souls. — Carl Jung”
― Peter Cawdron, The Minotaur

“her question while recognizing the conflict he feels. In her words, Mitchell is “on the spectrum,” meaning he displays mild traits of autism. He’s awkward in social settings, misses clues from body language, and can be a little too pedantic when it comes to standards. That makes him a great astronaut and an even better engineer, but it does mean he needs to be more self-aware and moderate his reactions. For him, the Seattle Protocol is gospel, but he can see it in her eyes—a longing for patience and understanding. He breathes deeply, stilling his mind.”
― Peter Cawdron, The Minotaur

“oxy-acetylene”
― Peter Cawdron, The Minotaur

“An octopus and a gorilla,” Mitchell says, following his logic.”
― Peter Cawdron, The Minotaur