It's not because my mind is made up that I don't want you to confuse me with any more facts. It's because my mind isn't made up. I already have more … - John Brunner

We know a lot nowadays about how to extrapolate from rats to people, but we don't only have to rely on that. In a sense we've made ourselves into experimental animals. There are too many of us, too crowded, in an environment we've poisoned with our own-uh-byproducts. Now when this happens to a wild species, or to rats in a lab, the next generation turns out weaker and slower and more timid. This is a defense mechanism.

Time entails memory, memory entails conscience, conscience entails thought for the future, which is itself implied by the existence of time.

when you think about the history of liberty. It’s the story of how principle has gradually been elevated above the whim of tyrants. When the law was defined as more powerful than the king, that was one great breakthrough.