The universe always feels old, though. That’s a universal truth, a universal fact of life. It felt old for her, already cobwebbed by history. Hard for us to grasp, I know. Human civilisation, it’s just the last scratch on the last scratch on the last scratch, on the last layer of everything. We’re noise. Dirt. We haven’t begun to leave a trace.

— Alastair Reynolds Beyond the Aquila Rift (2016)

More quotes by Alastair Reynolds

Belladonna Nights and Other Stories (2021)

Deep Navigation (2010)

The Prefect (2007)

Troika (2010)

On the Steel Breeze (2013)

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