He turned to Mingus. “Why don’t you just leave them alone? I really do — Robert Sheckley

"This planet’s secret menace was—freedom!"

"“Could he be an imposter?” the venerable priest mused. “No, I suppose not. So he must be from some other universe. That’s the usual explanation for the inexplicable.”"

"I poured Franklin another cup of coffee and he looked at me, his big eyes pleading. The deadheads always look like that when we reach this point. They think that Mars is like Alaska in the ’70s, or Antarctica in 2000; a frontier for brave, determined men. But Mars isn’t a frontier. It’s a dead end."

"Kettelman bristled. Nothing got him angrier than when people implied he was paranoid. It made him feel persecuted."

"Love, the secret and unofficial heart of pair-bonding behavior, is a force to be reckoned with but never predicted. Love supersedes all other directives and cancels previous obligations. The shared look of love is love’s preview, presenting a foretaste of the joys and sorrows to come, and setting into motion the automatic mating machinery upon which the success and stability of the State depends."

"It was one hell of an inspection when you went around finding how many sane men you had left."