The Ancient Ones Quotes

“In all of our ancestral legends about space travel, didn’t old-time authors envision humanity as the brash young upstarts? Intrepidly setting forth into the unknown, facing dire threats and deadly foes, making countless mistakes, but always persevering, brilliantly, against the odds? Moreover, in myth, weren’t we often assisted by some wise elder race? Admirable, patient beings, unresentful of our success and irreverent gumption. In those early romances, movies and threevees, from Roddenberry space operas to Tolkien fantasies, there were always kindly older brothers, unjealous and dependable; perhaps a bit stuffy and exasperated, but always sagacious, forbearing and kind.”
― David Brin, The Ancient Ones

“But then, of course, it could have been worse. This may not be the best of all possible worlds. But Pangloss never met Murphy. And things could have been very much worse, indeed. The pyramid loomed ahead, separated by a broad river from the main part of an alien metropolis that had once been named Cal’mari.”
― David Brin, The Ancient Ones