The Union will awaken. It always has. We always will. — David Brin

"Apparently, the Fates were not so unsubtle as to deal him another blow just yet. He knew they didn’t operate that way. They always let you hope for a while longer, then strung it out before they really let you have it."

"Life is not fair...Anyone who says it is, or even that it ought to be, is a fool or worse."

"It was a queer, disturbing instant of recognition. We all create monsters in our minds. The only important difference may be which of us let our monsters become real."

"What was it like, he wondered, to care about something so passionately? He suspected it made her somehow more alive than he was."

"One of life’s joys was to have friends who gave you reality checks...who would call you on your crap before it rose so high you drowned in it."

"He claims to have reasons. And yet, don’t all fanatics?"