"Nothing is anything unless it is something. In other words, a concept without material reality is meaningless."
Robert James Sawyer is a Canadian and American writer of science fiction. He is the author of 25 published novels, and his short fiction has appeared in magazines and journals such as Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Amazing Stories, On Spec, and Nature, in addition to several anthologies. He has won many writing awards, including the Nebula Award for Best Novel (1995), the Hugo Award for Best Nov
"“Well, that can happen. Memories can be implanted, even just through suggestion and constant repetition. And if a therapist augments that with hypnosis, really unshakable false memories can be created.” “But why on earth would a therapist do that?” Heather looked grim. “To quote an old Psych Department joke, there are many routes to mental health, but none so lucrative as Freudian analysis.”"
"I do remember her favorite expression: the Lord works in mysterious ways. Perhaps so. But I found it hard to believe he would work in shoddy, haphazard ones."
"Throwing some light on the subject had only made the mystery deeper."
"“But you get along with humans now, which is something my people are having trouble managing. How do you do it?” Longbottle barked, “Accept their weaknesses, welcome their strengths.” Jag was silent."
"Must God be defined in a way that places him or her beyond the scope of science? I’d always believed that there was nothing beyond the scope of science. And I still believe that. Where do you draw the line? Right here. For me, the answer was right here. How do you define God? Like this. A God I could understand, at least potentially, was infinitely more interesting and relevant than one that defied comprehension."
"“What arrogant fools we are!” said Jag. “Don’t you see?” To this day, despite all the humbling lessons the universe has already taught us, we still try to retain a central role in creation. We devise theories of cosmology that say the universe was destined to give rise to us, that it had to evolve life like us. Humans call it the anthropic principle, my people called it the aj-Waldahudigralt principle, but it’s all the same thing: the desperate, deep-rooted need to believe that we are significant, that we’re important."