A Pivot In Time Quotes

“We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” ​—T.S. Eliot”
― Douglas E. Richards, A Pivot In Time

“They had thought whoever created the cubes had to be very advanced, but the truth was beyond their wildest imaginings. Beings so evolved that entire universes became their private sandboxes. So advanced that the theological distinctions between God and not-God became almost irrelevant.”
― Douglas E. Richards, A Pivot In Time

“Dark energy and dark matter are out there. And they’ve shaped the entire history of the universe.” —Phil Plait, Astronomer”
― Douglas E. Richards, A Pivot In Time

“It was just as easy to ignore the magic of modern technology. There was nothing like a three-week sojourn in the ancient world to help one appreciate human progress. People rarely gave a thought to the miracle of toilet paper, indoor plumbing, food and water on demand, air-conditioning, and a thousand other conveniences that now seemed mundane. Few even took much time to truly ponder and appreciate the latest wonders, spectacular as they might be. Pocket-sized devices that could retrieve trillions of pages of information across the world, enable video chats with others thousands of miles away, take and display videos and photos, and perform countless other tasks.”
― Douglas E. Richards, A Pivot In Time

“How often did people consider the wonder of their own construction? Pause to reflect on the miracle of a DNA blueprint inside a single fertilized egg capable of directing the creation of an entire human being? Not just trillions of cells working in concert, but a hundred billion neurons somehow managing to become a vessel for consciousness.”
― Douglas E. Richards, A Pivot In Time

“It was so easy to get mired down in the day-to-day struggles of life, and lose sight of the wonders of existence. How often did most people take just a few minutes to go outside at night and gaze skyward, to marvel at the tiny piece of the cosmos viewable from Earth? To contemplate the infinity of the universe and the complexity and brilliance of Nature in all its endless forms?”
― Douglas E. Richards, A Pivot In Time

“Thomas Paine had written, “What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.”
― Douglas E. Richards, A Pivot In Time

“I’m more inclined to believe in God because of our insignificance next to nature, rather than because we’re so special.”
― Douglas E. Richards, A Pivot In Time

“You’ve basically just restated what is called the fine-tuned universe argument for the existence of God,” she said. “It turns out that a large number of physical constants need to be almost exactly what they are for the universe to work, and life to be possible. If a proton was just one percent heavier, for instance, atoms would be unstable and fly apart. The fact that all of these forces and constants turn out to be in such exquisite balance is almost infinitely unlikely. Like winning the lottery a thousand times in a row.”
― Douglas E. Richards, A Pivot In Time

“The fifth account was the Gospel of John, the very last one, written more than sixty years after Jesus’s death. In this one, Jesus does describe himself as a god—on par with his father. When it was written, Romans had started calling their emperors gods, which could explain why the anonymous author had Jesus ascribing this status to himself. Regardless, had Jesus ever claimed to be on par with God, or to be the Son of God, this would have been the most important statement he ever made. If he had made this claim, many scholars find it highly unlikely that none of the four other written sources—earlier sources—would have contained a single mention of it.” Sage paused once again. “To be fair, highly unlikely doesn’t mean impossible,” it continued. “And even if Jesus never did claim to be a god, this doesn’t mean he wasn’t. Or didn’t become one. Many have interpreted the scripture to suggest that Jesus was either a human or angel on Earth, and that because of his service, his sacrifice, God rewarded him by exalting him to the level of a god. But only after his death.”
― Douglas E. Richards, A Pivot In Time

“Religious knowledge of Jesus Christ comes from five principle written sources. The earliest of these are a number of letters penned by Paul—who didn’t know Jesus personally—twenty to thirty years after Jesus’s death. The remainder come much later, from the Gospels of the New Testament. These were four books written anonymously forty to sixty years after Jesus’s death. None of the authors knew Jesus, lived in Judea, or spoke his language. “These anonymous works were circulated for decades before they were finally given titles, each taken from the names of men with links to Jesus, confusing many into thinking that these were the actual authors. Specifically, these anonymous works became known as the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. “Most theologians pull different passages from different books to make their points, and don’t treat them as separate works, written at different times. But because they are, and because the authors didn’t know Jesus, there are any number of significant conflicting accounts between them. This is inevitable since none of them were written by eyewitnesses. The information came from the oral tradition, from stories handed down for decades, since no one took careful notes of what Jesus said at the time he said it.   “In four of these five accounts, Jesus never calls himself god or considers himself god. Nor do any of his disciples.” The AI paused for effect. “He and his followers did claim that he was the messiah, however. In fact, Christ is the Latin translation of the Hebrew word for messiah. But at the time of Christ, the messiah wasn’t considered a divine figure. Rather, this term simply referred to a great leader, in King David’s line, who would rule the Jewish people with God’s blessing, a role Jesus believed he would fulfill. And passages of the New Testament do, indeed, refer to him as King of the Jews.”
― Douglas E. Richards, A Pivot In Time

“I’m doing you a favor,” replied the colonel with a smile of his own. “Just remember what Patton said: Pressure makes diamonds.” “Well, yeah,” said the major in amusement. “If you’re a lump of coal. If you’re a human being, that same pressure turns you into splatter. Like a bug on a windshield.”
― Douglas E. Richards, A Pivot In Time

“kill one man and you’re considered a murderer. Wipe out all life on an entire planet, with the exception of the occupants of a wooden ark, and you’re considered a god. Still,”
― Douglas E. Richards, A Pivot In Time

“True courage is being scared out of your mind, having everything to lose, and acting anyway.”
― Douglas E. Richards, A Pivot In Time

“Cowards die many times before their death. The valiant never taste of death but once.” —Shakespeare (Julius Caesar, Act II, Scene II)”
― Douglas E. Richards, A Pivot In Time

“Was I the only person in the world clueless enough to have always thought that AD meant After Death,”
― Douglas E. Richards, A Pivot In Time

“if you have a sandwich at the local deli named after you, you’ve been somewhat influential. If you have the entire world counting years from the date of your birth, it’s safe to say you’ve had an impact.”
― Douglas E. Richards, A Pivot In Time

“Runaway biological or electronic evolution that led to a singularity event.”
― Douglas E. Richards, A Pivot In Time

“It would be faster,” said Boyd, “but more conspicuous”
― Douglas E. Richards, A Pivot In Time

“to be an elite warrior was to strike savagely, without hesitation or second-guessing. No queasiness over hurting an opponent, no mercy, and no stopping to congratulate oneself. Nothing but focus, speed, confidence, and savage intent.”
― Douglas E. Richards, A Pivot In Time

“779 AUC (Ab Urbe Condita)”
― Douglas E. Richards, A Pivot In Time

“whereby tiny chips were implanted in their brains, allowing them to communicate telepathically with each other and with Sage.”
― Douglas E. Richards, A Pivot In Time

“Of course,” said Boyd wryly. “You act as if none of us have ever participated in a telepathic séance run by an alien AI before.”
― Douglas E. Richards, A Pivot In Time

“779 AUC.”
― Douglas E. Richards, A Pivot In Time

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” —Albert Einstein”
― Douglas E. Richards, A Pivot In Time

“What’s going on is this,” he said, regaining his voice. “According to Sage, Yohanan is the Hebrew equivalent of John. Ha means the in Hebrew. And a mikvah is a Hebrew term for a ritual immersion in water. The Greek equivalent is baptizo, which means to immerse.” He paused for effect. “So in English,” he continued excitedly, “Yohanan Hamikvah translates into John the Baptist. And John the Baptist did have a growing following. And his ministry was taken over by another and expanded.”
― Douglas E. Richards, A Pivot In Time

“Along with a chamber pot and tersorium, of course.” “What’s a tersorium?” Boyd thought at this AI. “A sponge on a stick,” replied Sage helpfully. “Which Roman’s used to wipe their anuses after defecation.”
― Douglas E. Richards, A Pivot In Time

“We could do as you suggest. We could coerce civilizations. Actively mold them. But our creator doesn’t believe this is our place. Our creator believes in the principal of self-determination. Of choice—free will.”
― Douglas E. Richards, A Pivot In Time

“So Jim is right, then,” said Kelly. “You aren’t really caretakers at all. You just let happen what is destined to happen.”
― Douglas E. Richards, A Pivot In Time

“He had been imprisoned inside the least secure of the residences, and it was deserted at this late hour, as expected.”
― Douglas E. Richards, A Pivot In Time