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Any strategy that involves crossing a valley—accepting short-term losses to reach a higher hill in the distance—will soon be brought to a halt by the demands of a system that celebrates short-term gains and tolerates stagnation, but condemns anything else as failure. In short, a world where big stuff can never get done.

— Neal Stephenson

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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)

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.

Zodiac (1988)

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)

All Neal Stephenson quotes →

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.