Talking to the Council would be like shouting obscenities at a forest fire. - Larry Niven

"They used to teach us that evolution of intelligent beings wasn't possible," she said. "Societies protect their weaker members. Civilizations tend to make wheel chairs and spectacles and hearing aids as soon as they have the tools for them. When a society makes war, the men generally have to pass a fitness test before they're allowed, to risk their lives. I suppose it helps win the war." She smiled. "But it leaves precious little room for the survival of the fittest."

...sometimes the only way to call attention to bad construction was to set fire to the building.

The priest splayed his digits wide. “Herdmaster, I learn. Later I will speak.” “You do not seem pleased.” There was no answer. “A place of puzzles,” Pastempeh-keph said. “They surrender and have not surrendered. Their tapes show rogues acting in collusion. They live neither in herds nor alone. What are they?” “What do they believe themselves to be?” Fistarteh-thuktun asked. “Perhaps that is more important.