But they had, perversely, been living among people who were peering into the wrong end of the telescope, or something, and who had convinced themselves that the opposite was true - that the world had once been a splendid, orderly place...and that everything had been slowly, relentlessly falling apart ever since.
Neal StephensonI don't even want you to nod, that's how much you annoy me. Just freeze and shut up.
Neal StephensonThey knew many things but had no idea why. And strangely this made them more, rather than less, certain that they were right.
Neal StephensonThat we occasionally violate our own stated moral code does not imply that we are insincere in espousing that code.
Neal StephensonI actually don't think that there is a connection between the survival instinct and a hunger for immortality.
Neal StephensonLike any place in Reality, the Street is subject to development. Developers can build their own small streets feeding off of the main one. They can build buildings, parks, signs, as well as things that do not exist in Reality, such as vast hovering overhead light shows and special neighborhoods where the rules of three-dimensional spacetime are ignored.
Neal Stephenson