" I say, why start from nothing if you can start with everything? We've already got a civilization.'
'No. We haven't. We're just living on the edge of someone else's, like fleas on a dog's back. If the dog drowns, the fleas drown, too. "

― Robert C. O'Brien , Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (Rats of NIMH, #1)