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1 " Alex heard a stirring in the Hall. Brian had arrived. They cleared a path for him, saluting with mighty cheers as their leader made his way to the stage up front. Alex met him there.Brian looked good. His eyes were alert and alive, soaking in these final sights before the end. Alex could tell there had been no tears. At this deeply emotional moment, Alex felt an urge to hug his friend, or at least shake his hand, but human touch was anathema. He saluted.“I’m glad you made it,” Alex said.“You didn’t think I’d change my mind, did you?” Brian replied.“Of course not. I knew you’d be here. You’re even early.”“I think it’s best to arrive early for one’s execution, don’t you? "
― Rich Coffeen , The Discipling Of Mytra
2 " Give me Laxalar or I die,' Sarah prayed. "
3 " That’s why they don’t teach you the humanities. As long as your education is restricted toanalytical subjects, your minds are not a threat to them.”“I have a starflail,” Alex objected. “Unlimited power.”“But the Rulers have programmed you. Now calm down,” she added, seeing how angry thisstatement made him. “Not by putting something into your brain, but by keeping something out.They’ve held back critical information, knowledge they themselves possess. Until that deficiencyis corrected they continue to control how you think.”“I have freedom of action,” Alex persisted.“But you don’t know how to use it. Students on free worlds have a choice. A boy studies mathand science if he wants to become an engineer or a researcher. He studies the humanities if hewants to become a leader. As it should be. One prerequisite for leadership is that a manunderstand himself, something math and science can’t help with. That’s why a future leaderstudies history and stories and art: these subjects help him understand humanity in general andhimself in particular. You have to decide what you want to do here, Alex. If making robots is allyou’re interested in, science will get you through. If you want to lead a revolution, you’re going toneed a real education. "
4 " I see a 13–year–old girl holding hands with a 300–year–old woman. Can you imagine another context in which two such dissimilar people would do such a thing? Can you see what they display before a disbelieving world? I see a unity of which the heathen know nothing. Non–Christians feel brotherhood or belonging with people like themselves. In the church we experience a connection with people who aren’t like us. That girl and that woman, they have Christ in common, and probably not much else. He is enough. He makes them one. "
