Ar refuza să ne asculte. Și știi de ce? Pentru că au anumite idei fixe cu privire la trecut. Orice schimbare e o blasfemie în ochii lor, chiar dacă e… - Isaac Asimov

Every period of human development has had its own particular type of human conflict — its own variety of problem that, apparently, could be settled only by force. And each time, frustratingly enough, force never really settled the problem. Instead, it persisted through a series of conflicts, then vanished of itself — what's the expression — ah, yes, 'not with a bang, but a whimper,' as the economic and social environment changed. And then, new problems, and a new series of wars.

I laugh because I dare not cry. This is a crazy world and the only way to enjoy it is to treat it as a joke.

It seemed to him <nowiki>[</nowiki>Euphemius<nowiki>]</nowiki> it would be a brilliant notion to call in an outside force to fight on his behalf. This same brilliant notion has occurred to participants in civil wars uncounted times in history and it has ended in catastrophe just about every time, since those called in invariably take over for themselves. Of all history's lessons, this seems to be the plainest, and the most frequently ignored.