" Listen for somebody trying to talk to you....

(Silence)

This from that very pit of night, naked in the wasteland, the ice-wind moaning his only covering, alone in the freezing darkness under a sky of chill obsidian:)

Whoever tried to talk to me? When did I ever listen? When was I ever other than just myself, caring only for myself? "

― Iain M. Banks , Consider Phlebas (Culture, #1)