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Nothing in a hardware store ever gets bought for its nominal purpose. You buy something that was designed to do one thing, and you use it for another.

— Neal Stephenson Zodiac (1988)

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More quotes by Neal Stephenson

The corporations have already planted their own bombs. All we have to do is light the fuses.

Zodiac (1988)

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 you’re an engineer, and you’re not very bright, it’s easy to love polychlorinated biphenyls.

Zodiac (1988)

If history was any guide, those best at violence might end up ruling over everyone else.

Seveneves (2015)

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Neal Stephenson (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.