Be an optimist! It’s the only way to live. - Charles Sheffield

Everyone was somebody’s cousin, or uncle, or bedmate, or best college friend. Sometimes he felt that the whole of Washington was glued together into one vast, incestuous, and inefficient snotball.

The first ten-thousandth of a second after the Big Bang is far more interesting that the entire rest of the history of the universe.

My aunt doesn't even believe there is a Ship. She says we've been here on Pentecost forever."
"What did you tell her?"
"Nothing. For someone with that view, logic is irrelevant—she'll believe what she chooses, regardless of evidence. Her religion says God placed us here on Pentecost, and for her that's the end of the argument."
"And you?" Peron was aware that she had moved in very close to him. "What do you think?"
"You know what I think. I'm cursed with a logical mind, and a lot of curiosity.