Cars seemed to me to speak more clearly of Earth than any single thing else. - Algis Budrys

Loss of dignity is after all one of the basics to a good punchy gag.

Any intelligent race you can hope to someday relate to is going to have to come up essentially the same developmental roads and deal with the physical laws of the Universe in about the same way.

There’s a certain step-by-step logic, inherent in human nature and the peculiarities of human psychology, which ensures that Man will always organize into the largest possible group. Civilization is inevitable, if you want a pat phrase.