Voyage to Alpha Centauri Quotes

“Do not hate them. They do not know they are evil. They are blind. If you hate them, if you kill them in your heart, they will not die. They will rise up again and again within you, and they will kill your heart.”
― Michael D. O'Brien, Voyage to Alpha Centauri

“If you are a true logos and I am a true logos, then there is the possibility of the dia-logos—a true dialogue...What is true dialogue in a world like ours? Our world is drowning in communication, but starving for genuine communio—the union of true communion...Profound communion, the flow of celestial language, becomes possible when we are speaking on the firm foundation of the Logos, the Word who became flesh, the One who redeemed the universe.”
― Michael D. O'Brien, Voyage to Alpha Centauri

“The human mind is stimulated by change, motivated by meeting the challenge of novelty or threat or pleasure, rewarded with the sensations of being instrumental in altering environments, and will persevere in this as long as there is some degree of perceivable progress. People turn to knitting baby booties, doing crossword puzzles, collecting rare coins; they may even make an effort to understand E=mc2 or to study the genetic adaptations of cacti, but in all cases, they need to see some fruit of their labors.”
― Michael D. O'Brien, Voyage to Alpha Centauri

“Good-bye, O fairest world, good-bye”, I soliloquized. “O blue gem in the heavens, where mankind dwells in love, and no man’s hand is lifted against another, and the gifted realize their every dream, and all things sing, and the light grows gold when the bells ring.” “Good poetry needn’t rhyme”, said Xue. “Besides, you shouldn’t tell lies.” “Lies? No, I was just dreaming.”
― Michael D. O'Brien, Voyage to Alpha Centauri

“Mislila sam da ću umaknuti tamnomu oblaku uspomena - zato sam se prijavila na ovo putovanje. Sada vidim da svijet nosimo sa sobom kamo god da krenemo. Znam da se moramo tome oduprijeti. Je li to moguće? Nadam se jest - ne, nadam se da jest! Svaki je čovjek svijet za sebe, čitav svemir, zapravo.”
― Michael D. O'Brien, Voyage to Alpha Centauri

“Stari je asfalt bio grbav, utrt, posut šljunkom i izbrazdan i sav ispucao od vrućine. Vožnja po njoj bila je vrlo neugodna. "Tata!" požalio sam se glasno. "Tata, cesta je slomljena!" Nasmijao se i rekao: "Si, ali mi nismo slomljeni.”
― Michael D. O'Brien, Voyage to Alpha Centauri

“Nije li ova žudnja za plodnošću upisana u kod svakog ljudskog bića? Ja mislim da jest. Unatoč tome, kada jurimo za ovime ili onime, možemo biti potpuno slijepi za ono što se spremamo učiniti. I pitam se zašto ova žudnja obično usahne u pustinji međuljudskih odnosa. U pravoj pustinji rascvjeta se čak i kaktus.”
― Michael D. O'Brien, Voyage to Alpha Centauri

“Kakva bi utjeha bila imati vlastite organske prijatelje i brinuti se za njih u ovomu usamljenom svemiru. Poput ljudi, oni su kombinacija trnja i zvijezda.”
― Michael D. O'Brien, Voyage to Alpha Centauri

“- Veća stopa rasta. Peteljke i listovi okreću se malo-pomalo prema zvučnicima, kao da žude za izvorom.
- Sigurni ste da to nije samo vaš umišljaj? Biljke ne mogu uživati u klasičnoj glazbi.
- Biljke svakako nemaju osobnost, no uvjeravam vas da reagiraju pozitivno. Sve je to uvjetovano biologijom, naravno.
- Svakako.

Zastao je, neko vrijeme razmišljao, a zatim rekao: - I mi smo uvjetovani biologijom.”
― Michael D. O'Brien, Voyage to Alpha Centauri

“Our world is drowning in communication, but starving for genuine communio—the union of true communion.”
― Michael D. O'Brien, Voyage to Alpha Centauri

“We are resisting the technological corruption of our humanity with technology. We’re also resisting with our thinking, our perseverance, our friendships....In the end, we will find that even the best of tools can do no more than assist us. Certainly they cannot save us”
― Michael D. O'Brien, Voyage to Alpha Centauri

“For those who suffer disposal, the cost is their very lives. For those of us who survive, there is a creeping indifference to anything other than one’s own survival, which results in increased selfishness, hardness of heart, denial—which in the long range will bring about the devaluation of self. To counter this devaluation, therefore, one flees into pride of accomplishment. Isn’t what we do the defining measure of selfhood in our society?”
― Michael D. O'Brien, Voyage to Alpha Centauri

“Each tool reshapes the one who is apparently the master of the tool. I ask myself this: At what point does the tool, the servant, become the real master?”
― Michael D. O'Brien, Voyage to Alpha Centauri