As history shows us, when colonization is voluntary, people will self-select better than any testing system. It’s like those foolish attempts to control immigration to American based on the traits that were deemed desirable, when in fact the only trait that defines Americans historically is “descended from somebody willing to give up everything to live there.” Willingness is the single most important test.

A character is what he does, yes - but even more, a character is what he means to do.

I'm right here. This is who I really am. I'm not pretending.

In a way, being a Mormon prepares you to deal with science fiction, because we live simultaneously in two very different cultures. The result is that we all know what it's like to be strangers in a strange land. It's not just a coincidence that there are so many effective Mormon science fiction writers. We don't regard being an alien as an alien experience. But it also means that we're not surprised when people don't understand what we're saying or what we think.

Maybe she couldn't know who she was today. Maybe it was enough to know that she was no longer who she was before.

I have to win this now, and for all time, or I’ll fight it every day and it will get worse and worse.

All is going well, very well, I couldn’t ask for anything better— So why do I hate my life?