Are you under the impression that the object of everyone else’s love actually exists? - Liu Cixin

In this forest, hell is other people. An eternal threat that any life that exposes its own existence will be swiftly wiped out. This is the picture of cosmic civilization. It’s the explanation for the Fermi Paradox.

In my line of work, it’s all about putting together many apparently unconnected things. When you piece them together the right way, you get the truth

He was won over by their expressions, because he knew that the eyes of ordinary people were the best reflection of the level of civilization in a time and place.