For what it’s worth, the sociocultural rituals of your society seem to be in conflict with biological reality. - Jaroslav Kalfař

To fear a truth! Blasphemy!

The greatness of a nation is in its symbols, its gestures, in doing things that are unprecedented. It’s why the Americans are falling behind—they built a nation on the idea of doing new things, and now they’d rather sit and pray that the world won’t make them adapt too much.

My father never did anything else after that," Valerie said. "Mostly, he became a drunk. But a man only needs one thing to be proud of. It will carry him through the rest of his life.