And how much did he and the others lost when they had turned their backs on magic? Belief, of course, and there might be some value in belief, althou… - Clifford D. Simak

There’s a planet out there somewhere. Fairly close, I’d guess. A freewheeling planet, not tied to any sun, although I gather that it could insert itself into a solar system any time it wishes.” “That would take some doing. It would mess up the orbits of all the other planets.” “Not necessarily,” said Maxwell. “It wouldn’t have to take an orbit in the same plane as the other planets. That would hold down the effect of its being there.

These kind never change. The machine does something to a man. It brutalizes him. It serves as a buffer between himself and his environment and he is the worst for it. It arouses an opportunistic instinct and makes possible a greed that makes a man inhuman.

Time is still the great mystery to us. It is no more than a concept; we don't know if it even exists...