The past was like a handful of sand you thought you were squeezing tightly, but which had already run out through the cracks between your fingers. Me… - Liu Cixin

when you read or make science fiction, your sympathy automatically moves away from ideas of ethnicity and nation and toward a higher idea of humanity as a whole; from this vantage, humanity naturally becomes a collective unit, rather than an assembly of different parts divided by ethnicity and nation.

Guardó silencio unos instantes. Luego se volvió y se marchó, incapaz de sentir pena. Le pasaba lo mismo que a un medidor Geiger: expuesto a tal cantidad de radioactividad, su lectura siempre tendía a cero.

The reason evolution bestows all intelligent life with a desire to climb higher is far more profound than more base needs, even though we still do not understand its real purpose. Mountains are universal and we are all standing at the feet of mountains.