The authority of superior knowledge was different in kind from the authority of assumed power. Still, he felt a little awkward assuming it. - Michael Swanwick

It's inspired lunacy," Leyster agreed. Chuck looked crestfallen. "Right up there with continental drift, or the notion that birds might be descended from dinosaurs." Chuck brightened. "But it's also right up there with Eric Van Danniken and Lamarckian genetics. Until we've tested it out, it's just a nifty hypothesis, no more.

He had for many years thought of Christ as a rival in greatness. Now he realized they were both brothers in misery. Their enemies were identical: the howling mob, the fearful, the inferior, the baying hounds of conventional morality.

Oh, Sirin, how could you? You know as well as I do how dangerous scrying the future can be. Half the time what it shows you wouldn’t happen if you hadn’t foreseen it.