Dave Eggers

"I speak to these people, and I speak to you because I cannot help it. It gives me strength, almost unbelievable strength, to know that you are there. I covet your eyes, your ears, the collapsible space between us. How blessed are we to have each other? I am alive and you are alive so we must fill the air with our words. I will fill today, tomorrow, every day until I am taken back to God. I will tell stories to people who will listen and to people who don’t want to listen, to people who seek me out and to those who run. All the while I will know that you are there. How can I pretend that you do not exist? It would be almost as impossible as you pretending that I do not exist."

"There are people who meet strangers and people, like me, who know only those they’ve known from birth"

"You and yours at the Circle, youre gonna save all the souls. Youre gonna get everyone in one place, youre gonna teach them all the same things. There can only be one morality, one set of rules. Imagine! Now all humans will have the eyes of God. You know this passage? All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of God. Something like that. You know your Bible? Now were all God. Every one of us will soon be able to see, and cast judgment upon, every other. Well see what He sees. Well articulate His judgment. Well channel His wrath and deliver His forgiveness. On a constant and global level. All religion has been waiting for this, when every human is a direct and immediate messenger of Gods will. Do you see what Im saying?"

"Its not that Im not social. Im social enough. But the tools you guys create actually manufacture unnaturally extreme social needs. No one needs the level of contact youre purveying. It improves nothing. Its not nourishing. Its like snack food. You know how they engineer this food? They scientifically determine precisely how much salt and fat they need to include to keep you eating. Youre not hungry, you dont need the food, it does nothing for you, but you keep eating these empty calories. This is what youre pushing. Same thing. Endless empty calories, but the digital-social equivalent. And you calibrate it so its equally addictive."

"— Mr. Churchill you were given a mission. — Yes — I want to have been given your mission. I want your place in world events, the centrality of it. You were born in the cradle of a catapult! — You are wrong. I found my mission. — I disagree. — If you must. — Tell me: where is my mission? Where are my bunkers and trenches, my goddamn Gallipoli?"

"Most people would trade everything they know, everyone they know - theyd trade it all to know theyve been seen, and acknowledged, that they might even be remembered/ We all know we die. We all know the world is too big for us to be significant. So all we have is the hope of being seen, or heard, even for a moment."

"Dont you see thats just one of the consequences of all this? There will be more Mercers. So many more. So many people who dot want to be found but who will be. So any people who wanted no part of all this. Thats whats new. There used to be the option of opting out. But now thats over. Completion is the end. Were closing the circle around everyone - its a totalitarian nightmare."

"I want you to connect these dots and see if you see what I see. Picture this. The Circle has been devouring all competitors for years, correct? It only makes the company stronger. Already 90 percent of the worlds searches go through the Circle. Without competitors, this will increase. Soon itll be nearly 100 percent. Now, you and I both know that if you can control the flow of information, you can control everything. You can control most of what anyone sees and knows. If you want to bury some piece of information, permanently, thats two seconds work. If you want to ruin anyone, thats five minutes work. How can anyone rise up against the Circle if they control all the information and access to it? They want everyone to have a Circle account, and theyre well on their way to making it illegal not to. What happens then? What happens when they control all searches, and have full access to all data about every person? When they know every move everyone makes? When all monetary transactions, all health and DNA information, every piece of ones life, good or bad, when every word uttered flows through one channel?"

"I am sorry Chris is late this morning. I could make something up about an appointment or a sickness, but the fact is that we woke up late. Go figure Best, Brother of Toph."

"First of all: I am tired. I am true of heart! And also: You are tired. You are true of heart!"

"And we will be ready, at the end of every day will be ready, will not say no to anything, will try to stay awake while everyone is sleeping, will not sleep, will make the shoes with the elves, will breathe deeply all the time, breathe in all the air full of glass and nails and blood, will breathe it and drink it, so rich, so when it comes we will not be angry, will be content, tired enough to go, gratefully, will shake hands with everyone, bye, bye, and then pack a bag, some snacks, and go to the volcano."

"Ooh, look at me, I’m Dave, I’m writing a book! With all my thoughts in it. La la la!"