"Don't lose your temper," said Ruell evenly. "It's your worst fault, except for ignorance." - Damon Knight

Eagles had made a realist of him. He believed in facts, and in altering your viewpoint to fit them, no matter what they were. That was the way you survived and stayed sane; it was hard, it meant sacrifices—he had already lost many things that he valued deeply—but it was the only way.

He was going to die. His mind flinched back in horror from that, but it was still there, grinning, implacable. His body would rot under the ground, while delicious things were still happening in the sunlight.

When two alien cultures meet, the stronger must transform the weaker with love or hate.