The best foundation that a decision is ever allowed is our fallible assessment of the probabilities. - Poul Anderson

On our Earth, we’ve perforce learned all the knavery there is to know.

What I’m trying to make you know, not in your forebrain but in your marrow, is that reality never conforms very well to the textbooks, and sometimes it doesn’t conform at all.

If anything does change man," he said, "it's science and technology. Just think about the fact—while it lasts—that parents need not take for granted some of their babies will die. You get a completely different concept of what a child is.