Men who believe that they are accomplishing something by speaking speak in a different way from men who believe that speaking is a waste of time.
Neal StephensonAs convenient as it is for information to come to us, libraries do have a valuable side effect: they force all of the smart people to come together in one place where they can interact with one another.
Neal StephensonThe only thing that can effect a big change in personality is something that physically rewires the brain and/or alters the body's chemical milieu.
Neal StephensonHow could your cover be blown in Canada? Why even bother going dark there? How could you tell?
Neal StephensonSee, the world is full of things more powerful than us. But if you know how to catch a ride, you can go places.
Neal StephensonHostility towards Microsoft is not difficult to find on the Net, and it blends two strains: resentful people who feel Microsoft is too powerful, and disdainful people who think it's tacky. This is all strongly reminiscent of the heyday of Communism and Socialism, when the bourgeoisie were hated from both ends: by the proles, because they had all the money, and by the intelligentsia, because of their tendency to spend it on lawn ornaments. Microsoft is the very embodiment of modern high-tech prosperity - it is, in a word, bourgeois - and so it attracts all of the same gripes.
Neal Stephenson