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Yet, even with the greatest care, a technological civilization carried the seeds of its own destruction. Sooner or later, it ossified and politics carried it into a fall.

— Vernor Vinge A Deepness in the Sky (1999)

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Politics

More quotes by Vernor Vinge

Quit crossing your fingers, Wim; the only thing that’ll ever save you from is the respect of educated men.

The Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge (2001)

The hard facts are extraordinary, without adding superstitious mumbo-jumbo.

A Deepness in the Sky (1999)

Funny how the least attempt at deception always seems to make life more complicated.

A Deepness in the Sky (1999)

We realize that this means the destruction of solar systems, but consider the alternative.

A Fire Upon the Deep (1992)

Life is a green madness just now, trying to squeeze the last bit of warmth from the season.

A Fire Upon the Deep (1992)

All Vernor Vinge quotes →

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Never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it.

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Every Communist must grasp the truth: Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.

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Three-fourths of the Italian economy, industrial and agricultural, is in the hands of the state.

Benito Mussolini

Fear and destructiveness are the major emotional sources of fascism, eros belongs mainly to democracy.

Theodor Adorno The Authoritarian Personality (1950)

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