Daniel Suarez Quotes

When the survival strategy of a civilization is invalidated, in all of human history none have ever turned back from the brink.

">> "is this cup half empty or half full, Mr. Tighe?"
<< "It's completely full if you include the air" — James Tighe"

Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible
government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility
to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to
befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt
politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day. — Theodore Roosevelt in 1906

Her new boss was an undead automaton from hell, true. But, no job is perfect.

When people became more reliant on multinational corporations than on their own communities, they surrendered whatever say they had in their government. Corporations are growing stronger while democratic government becomes increasingly helpless.

"Great. So if a dragon and a fairy show up at the castle, what the hell am I supposed to do with that information? Put out a warrant for their arrest?" "No,"

Don’t waste time being angry with the dead. They’ll never give you satisfaction.

I've been amused by the debate in America over whether torture is effective... Of course it's effective.

It’s your life. You should be the hero of it. If it’s any consolation, I’m the hero of mine, too.

no society with a wide power imbalance remains free for very long.

At issue is not whether the global economy will pass away. It is passing away. Rising populations and debt combined with depletion of freshwater sources and fossil fuel make the status quo untenable. The only question is whether civil society will survive the transition.

Chinese factory worker must think Americans are insane. Picture this: you work at a plant that makes Halloween stuff — you know, like, rubber severed heads. And you’re all like: Americans decorate their homes with severed heads? These fuckers are savages, man.

Innovation was a curious thing. It never failed to amaze him.

And yet this place confirmed what they’d long known: that truly disruptive innovation rarely came from the expected sources. They’d had so much more luck investing in eccentric B and C students. The rationale was simple: Those heavily invested in the status quo had difficulty thinking outside of it — and were often tainted by it. Especially when success and peer approval beckoned. One did not accidentally graduate from top-tier schools. One strove to get in and to maintain grades once there, and to do that, one usually needed to be a master at conformity. To excel in all the accepted conventions.

No, the truly different thinkers often went unnoticed.

When privacy is criminalized,
only criminals will have privacy.

Something was beyond wrong. Sebeck looked at the faces of the agents and police arrayed around him. There was abject hatred in their eyes. Burning anger. He knew that look. It was the look reserved for the vilest criminals. They were closing in from two directions — leaving a clear field of fire. Twenty or thirty heavily armed men. Sebeck glanced at Ross, who already had his hands on his head. “What the hell is going on, Jon?” “I don’t know. But the Daemon’s got something to do with it.” “This is your last warning! Put your hands on your head, or we will open fire!” Sebeck felt his blood rising. He put his hands on the back of his head but looked to Ross. “Why are they looking at me?” “I don’t know.” The Feds hit Sebeck like linebackers.