The Victorians, they were like the Germans in World War II. They could not stop recording details about their lives and their age.

I despair at the rise of modern violence. I truly give in to despair at times, that deep, futureless pit of despair.... I watch the American slaughterhouse, the casual attacks on popes, presidents, and uncounted others, and I wonder if there are many more out there with the Ability or if butchery has simply become the modern way of life.

How could anyone stay sane with entire lifetimes stored in one human mind?

There is no doubt that I have discovered the ultimate in stagnant human societies. The Bikura have realized the human dream of immortality and have paid for it with their humanity and their immortal souls.

Luckily, even as a young man not yet become himself, John Bridgens had two things besides indecision that kept him from self-destruction - books and a sense of irony.

Nobody gets beyond a petroleum economy. Not while there's petroleum there.

It's odd how violence and humor so often go together, isn't it?