75 quotes
These caves aren’t art galleries or shamanistic temples, they’re schools of the hunting arts—the equivalent of one of our museums of science and industry.
The Story of B (1996)
Crimes are what the state defines as crimes.
The Story of B (1996)
Five severed fingers do not make a hand.
Ishmael (1992)
Those who wish to imagine that God called every species to life in a final, changeless form are welcome to do so, but I’m incapable of embracing such a primitive scenario.
My Ishmael (1997)
Of course it’s not enough. But if you begin anywhere else, there’s no hope at all.
Ishmael (1992)
The world will not be saved by old minds with new programs. If the world is saved, it will be saved by new minds—with no programs.
The Story of B (1996)
People say that I’m sour and misanthropic, and I tell them they’re probably right. Argument of any sort, on any subject, has always seemed like a waste of time to me.
Ishmael (1992)
What is to be remembered, I suppose I remember; everything else dissolves and vanishes: breath on an icy mirror.
We don’t need prophets to tell us how to live; we can find out for ourselves by consulting what’s actually there.
Ishmael (1992)
Pursuing an evolutionarily unstable strategy doesn’t eliminate you instantly, Jared, it eliminates you eventually.
The Story of B (1996)
The Leavers and the Takers are enacting two separate stories, based on entirely different and contradictory premises.
Ishmael (1992)
The world was not made for any one species.
Ishmael (1992)
Once you exempt yourself from the law of limited competition, everything in the world except your food and the food of your food becomes an enemy to be exterminated.
Ishmael (1992)
Atterley’s message seemed difficult to summarize and was typically characterized as “mind-boggling” by those who were favorably impressed and as “incomprehensible” by those who weren’t.
The Story of B (1996)
Daunting isn’t nearly strong enough. To call it daunting is like calling the Atlantic damp.
Ishmael (1992)
But, alas, a law is catching up to them. They don’t know such a law even exists, but this ignorance affords them no protection from its effects.
Ishmael (1992)
Don’t make faces. It won’t hurt you to hear a new word.
My Ishmael (1997)
All paths lie together like a web endlessly woven, and yours and mine are no greater or less than the beetle’s or the mouse’s. All are held together.
The Story of B (1996)
A system based on exchanging products inevitably channels wealth to a few, and no governmental change will ever be able to correct that. It isn’t a defect of the system, it’s intrinsic to the system.
My Ishmael (1997)
By the simple act of being locked up, food was transformed into a product—the fundamental product of your economy.
My Ishmael (1997)