19 quotes
The mere suggestion that it might be possible to look at a thing from more than one point of view was infuriating to these people.
Seveneves (2015)
It is only a certain type of mind that scorns what is known by all and treats secrets as jewels.
Seveneves (2015)
If history was any guide, those best at violence might end up ruling over everyone else.
Seveneves (2015)
“We can’t make the same mistake again,” Aïda said, “of fooling ourselves. Believing in shit that isn’t real.”
Seveneves (2015)
As it turned out, imagining the fate of seven billion people was far less emotionally affecting than imagining the fate of one.
Seveneves (2015)
His earlier conversation with Luisa had brought home to him, however, that ignoring politics might not be the wisest long-term strategy. He might not care about politics, but politics cared about him.
Seveneves (2015)
Hotness was a part of the human condition and it was pointless to pretend that it did not exist.
Seveneves (2015)
“If you are going to make first contact with an intelligent alien race,” said Cantabrigia Five, “dropping huge strip-mining robots into their homeland might not be your best move.”
Seveneves (2015)
You could get use to anything. You got used to it and then time raced by, and before you knew it, time was up.
Seveneves (2015)
Trying to, you know, persuade others to join our side. Trying to make the other side look bad. Just like the Internet always was.
Seveneves (2015)
We did not expect to have a backup system for the rest of the universe. We can rely upon it to be cold most of the time.
Seveneves (2015)
“People who claim they are motivated by the Purpose end up behaving differently—and generally better—than people who serve other masters.”
“So it is like believing in God.”
“Maybe yes. But without the theology, the scripture, the pigheaded certainty.”
Seveneves (2015)
The evening went fine. Doob, who had raised three children to adulthood, had figured out a long time ago that any event largely organized by elementary school teachers was likely to come off extremely well from a logistical and crowd-control standpoint.
Seveneves (2015)
The little boy in him was crestfallen that he wasn't going on the adventure. Then he reminded himself that he was already part of the biggest adventure ever, and that, so far, it had been altogether miserable.
Seveneves (2015)
We can't run this experiment a thousand times to see the range of different outcomes. We can only run it once. The human mind has trouble with situations like that. We see patterns where they don't exist, we find meaning in randomness.
Seveneves (2015)
Every parent of a teenager gets used to it: the moment in a child's life when he or she decides that certain facts are just too much trouble to explain to Mom or Dad. The parents can't, and needn't, know every last little thing. They just have to accept this, be content with what they can glean on their own, and move on.
Seveneves (2015)
There is a process known as parthenogenesis, literally virgin birth, by which a uniparental embryo can be created out of a normal egg. It's been done with animals. The only reason no one ever did it with humans is because it seemed ethically dodgy, as well as completely unnecessary given the willingness of men to impregnate women every chance they got.
Seveneves (2015)
I have been clinically depressed for most of my life. I once used drugs to fix it. Then I stopped. I stopped because I decided they were making me stupid, and I'd rather be miserable than stupid. I am what I am.
Seveneves (2015)
She had grown tired of the pouffy floating hair of zero gravity and, after a few weeks of clamping it down with baseball caps, had figured out how to make this shorter cut work for her. The haircut had spawned terabytes of Internet commentary from men, and a few women, who apparently had nothing else to do with their time.
Seveneves (2015)