The only thing driving us on was greed. Fucking greed. The only thing in the universe stronger than fear. - Alastair Reynolds

She looked at him, marvelling. “Sometimes it’s as if you’re living a century behind the rest of us.”
“Elephants don’t care what century it is. They care what season it is.”

He had never lost that mingled combination of awe and terror that welled up in him when confronted by the routinely huge distances of space.

Grafenwalder shoots a sidelong glance at Ursula Goodglass, wondering what their marriage must be like. Clearly sex isn’t in the cards, but he doubts that it was ever the main interest in their lives. Games, especially those of prestige and subterfuge, are amongst the chief entertainments of the Rust Belt moneyed.