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21 " a shocking 40 percent of the population in this region is jobless, with 50 percent of those being under twenty-five. That’s a recipe for systems breakdown, right there: for anarchy, for chaos, for the senseless destruction of property, for so-called revolution, which means looting and gang rule and warlords and mass rape, and the terrorization of the weak and helpless. "
― Margaret Atwood , The Heart Goes Last
22 " There is only so much manpower and tax revenue that can be devoted to riot control, to social surveillance, to chasing fast youths down dark alleyways, to fire-hosing and pepper-spraying suspicious-looking gatherings. "
23 " Ed, knows power corrupts, they’ll have experienced that first-hand. They’ll see how I’d be tempted to use my own power for personal reasons. They may not approve of that, but they’ll buy "
24 " He shouldn’t have let himself be caged in here, walled off from freedom. But what does freedom mean any more? And who had caged him and walled him off? He’d done it himself. So many small choices. "
25 " what is is, as Grandma Win used to say, and what can’t be cured must be endured, and laugh and the world laughs with you but cry and you cry alone. "
26 " Stan got the message. He allowed the chicken assignations. What did that make him? A chicken pimp. Better than dead. "
27 " The palliative care nurses welcome him: he's a spot of brightness, they claim he keeps the patients interested in life. "We don't think of the clients here as dying," one of them said to him on his first visit. "After all everyone's dying, just some of us more slowly. "
28 " If you do bad things for reasons you’ve been told are good, does it make you a bad person? "
29 " That way nobody feels exploited.”“Wait a minute,” says Stan. “Nobody’s exploited?”“I said nobody feels exploited,” says Budge. “Different thing. "
30 " Being upset is a warmer, close-up feeling, not a chilly distant feeling like laughing at people. "
31 " Because citizens were always a bit like inmates and inmates were always a bit like citizens, so Consilience and Positron have only made it official. "
32 " Here comes his hand, planing slowly across the white tablecloth like a manta ray in one of those deep-sea documentaries. It's descending onto her own hand, which she shouldn't have left so carelessly lying around on the table. "
33 " With no orders to follow, she occupies her mind by painting her nails, which is a very soothing thing to do when you’re anxious and keyed up. Some people like to throw objects, such as glasses of water or rocks, but nail painting is more positive. If more world leaders would take it up there would be less overall suffering, in her opinion. "
34 " Is that all we are? he thinks. Unmistakable clothing, a hairstyle, a few exaggerated features, a gesture? — "
35 " Some people like to throw objects, such as glasses of water or rocks, but nail painting is more positive. If more world leaders would take it up there would be less overall suffering, in her opinion. "
36 " Maybe she herself is a kind of fatal woman, like Marilyn Monroe in Niagara, with invisible spider webs coming out of her, entangling men because they can't help it, and the spider can't help it either because it's her nature. Maybe she's doomed to be sticky. "
37 " Men don’t like to think about makeup, they like to think everything about you is genuine. Unless of course they want to think you’re a slut and everything about you is fake. "
38 " I’M STARVED FOR YOU "
39 " Other women – women in the past, tougher women – have dealt with babies in confined spaces, such as ocean ships and covered wagons. But maybe not cars. It’s hard to get smells out of car upholstery, so you’d have to be extra careful about the spitting up and so forth. — "
40 " hippo. Like something that basks, anyway. Even her knitting is going better than "