No power was total, no power permanent, no power absolute.

But even quashed rebellions leave us different. Because freedom may be a forbidden fruit in tyrannies, but once tasted, it is unforgettable.

Like world describers before me, those mapmakers in the seventeenth centure, I had laid down my first faintly drawn border. With that one tentative mark, my world expanded by a few freeing degrees.

Silence, too, can be torture.

Come on, don't you ever stop and smell the coffee?

Maybe getting around in life was nothing but map-reading. A skill that required practice. A key to unlock where you wanted to go. A legend to show where you were.

Flawed, we're truly interesting, truly memorable, and yes, truly beautiful.