I was trying to run something to ground that had come to my attention when I was working on the Baroque Cycle. That series, of course, was about the conflict between Newton and Leibniz. Leibniz developed a system of metaphysics called monadology, which looked pretty weird at the time and was promptly buried by Newtonian-style physics.

Talent was not rare; the ability to survive having it was.

Any strategy that involves crossing a valley accepting short-term losses to reach a higher hill in the distance will soon be brought to a halt by the demands of a system that celebrates short-term gains and tolerates stagnation, but condemns anything else as failure. In short, a world where big stuff can never get done.

The best way to know someone is to have a conversation with them.

Can't you see that everyone is buying station wagons?

Once a person has all the things they need to live, everything else is entertainment.

Middle class prosperity is lapidary; the flow of cash rounds and smooths a person like water does riverbed stones.