The technicians thought I was crazy. Now, five months later, I’ve proved it. - James Blish

I suppose you burned the library—barbarians always do.

“Your concept is a tremendous network of inconsistencies.”
“In what way?” the countess said, not very much interested.
“It seems to be based on reverence for the young, and an extremely patient and protective attitude toward their physical and mental welfare. Yet you make them live in these huge caves, utterly out of contact with the natural world, and you teach them to be afraid of death—which of course makes them a little insane, because there is nothing anybody can do about death. It is like teaching them to be afraid of the second law of thermodynamics, just because living matter sets that law aside for a very brief period.

In retrospect, each of the steps toward this abyss seemed irrevocable, and yet they had all been so small!