Violence is never the only solution. - Charles Sheffield

The more foolproof you think something is, the worse the failure when it happens.

Did you do what I asked you to?"
"As much as I could. Have you ever tried to brief your boss, without telling her what's going on?"
"A hundred times. It's the first rule of self-preservation.

It was the age-old conundrum: How do I know that the ‘me’ who wakes after a night’s sleep is the same ‘me’ who went to bed? I don’t. I merely employ it as a working assumption, for lack of anything better.