2
" One reason might be that if I hadn't tripped, I'd have been hamburger.When this sort of thing occurs, people often say that there was some power greater than themselves at work. This sounds reasonable. I am just suggesting that it is not necessary to equate " greater than ourselves" with " stretched across the heavenly vault." It could mean " just slightly greater." A cocoon of energy that we carry with us, that is capable, under some conditions, of affecting physicality. Furthermore, I conjecture that the totality of all these souls is what constitutes the Godhead. I mean this in the same sense as the " Leviathan" of Thomas Hobbes, whereby man, that is everyone together, creates " that great Leviathan called a Commonwealth or State, which is but an artificial man, though of greater statute and strength than the natural, for whose protection and defense it was created." And that leads me to my Insight: God was not there at the beginning of evolution; God is what lies at the end of it. "
11
" I found, increasingly, that I did not particularly care and I tried to fake a little kindness, a little sweetness, tried to mirror Luna back at herself, but that exhausted me after a week and I concluded that I was not meant for this sort of thing, friends, friendliness, no, I wasn't meant for it. "
― Catherine Lacey , Nobody Is Ever Missing
17
" Know, then, that now, precisely now, these people are more certain than ever before that they are completely free, and at the same time they themselves have brought us their freedom and obediently laid it at our feet. It is our doing, but is it what you wanted? This sort of freedom?'
Again I don't understand', Alyosha interrupted, 'Is he being ironic? Is he laughing?'
Not in the least. He precisely lays it to his and his colleagues' credit that they have finally overcome freedom, and have done so in order to make people happy. "
― Fyodor Dostoevsky , The Brothers Karamazov
19
" Inside, Harrison came face to face with
a small man wearing immense plus fours.
“Looking for someone?” asked the small man.
“Yes, the fire chief.”
“Who’s he?”
By now prepared for this sort of thing, Harrison
spoke as one would to a child. “See here, Mister, this
is a fire-fighting outfit. Somebody bosses it. Somebody
organizes the whole affair, fills forms, presses
buttons, shouts orders, recommends promotions,
kicks the shiftless, grabs all the credit, transfers all
the blame and generally lords it around. He’s the
most important man in the bunch and everybody
knows it.” His forefinger tapped imperatively on the
other’s chest. “And he is the fellow I’m going to talk
to if it’s the last thing I do.”
“Nobody is more important than anyone else.
How can he be? I think you’re crazy.”
“You’re welcome to think what you please but I
am telling you that—.”
A shrill bell clamoured, cutting off his sentence. "
― Eric Frank Russell , The Great Explosion