To be paranoid was to inflate one’s importance, to see oneself as worthy of persecution - Larry Niven

It was comforting somehow to see his minions exhibit traces of conscience. “The right to have children should not depend on your political connections.” Stealing a glance at a holo of Nike, Nessus wondered whose political system he questioned.

1a) Never throw shit at an armed man.
1b) Never stand next to someone who is throwing shit at an armed man.

Rod privately suspected the Scots studied their speech off duty so they’d be unintelligible to the rest of humanity.