The Cruel Stars Quotes

“Soldiers kill, but they do not murder. And if you force them to, we already know what happens. Morale collapse. They fall into depression or psychosis. Either way it degrades performance.”
― John Birmingham, The Cruel Stars

“The self is simply that warm single point of sentience around which the life of the universe gathers.”
― John Birmingham, The Cruel Stars

“he looked like an angry, underfed golem carved from oatmeal, egg yolks, and rancid spam—about three hundred years ago.”
― John Birmingham, The Cruel Stars

“And so you cannot back up. You go into harm’s way as true human beings. Just like our foe. Think now, if you should die, all of the words you have read, the places you’ve been, the knowledge and the wisdom you have gained, it will altogether vanish like a dream. Every note of music, every brushstroke of every painting, every q-bit, every sim, all that laughter, so many tears, and suddenly…nothing. Perhaps an earlier backup of another you does remain safely stored in some remote offline facility. Your memories of the Beijing Opera, the candomblé in Bahía, the dunes of al-Qudd, a walk down the grand avenues of Cupertino, the white nights of Putingrad, the call to prayer on the Habitat of Peace, a red supermoon over the Armadalen Sea, the crumbs of a pastry and the last mouthful of coffee in a tiny café in Trastevere, everything you have ever known, remembered, talked about, and everything you have left unspoken—it could all live again, I suppose. But would that be you, Doctor Saito? The you here with me? Right now?” The color had drained from her face. That was better. That was how people should react to encountering the”
― John Birmingham, The Cruel Stars