If you're right, and nobody really cares what's out there, I wonder whether we're even worth saving.

Show me what a people admire, and I will tell you everything about them that matters.

One could not always put safety up front as the prime goal. Do that, and who would ever achieve anything of note?

The problem is that too often the only people who can act don't want change. Power doesn't so much corrupt as it breeds conservatism.

There'd been studies over the years supporting the proposition that groups composed exclusively of women usually made intelligent decisions, that exclusively male groups did a bit less well, and that mixed groups did most poorly of all, by a substantial margin. It appeared that, when women were present, testosterone got the upper hand and men took greater risks than they might otherwise. Correspondingly, women in the mixed group tended to revert to roles, becoming more passive, and going along with whatever misjudgment the males might perpetrate.

Boundaries have no existence save on charts or in small minds. Nature does not draw lines.

Lies hold civilization together. If people ever seriously begin telling each other what they really think, there'd be no peace. Good-bye to tact. Good-bye to being polite. Good-bye to showing tolerance for other people's buffooneries. The fact that we claim to admire Truth is probably the biggest lie of all. But that's part of the charade, part of what makes us human, and we do not even think about it. In effect, we lie to ourselves. Lies are only despicable when they betray a trust.