"We are ultimately at home in the world not through dominating or explaining or appreciating, but through caring and being cared for."

“Everyone who chooses to live in Europe must accept the basic values. This includes the rule of law as well as equality of men and women and non-discrimination against religious and other minorities.”

“What country before ever existed a century and a half without a rebellion? And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”

“I think even back as far as 'Lord of the Rings,' there was always the chance that 'The Hobbit' would be made, even way back then. Of course at that point, Peter Jackson didn't probably think at that point that he'd be directing it.”

“Unless women have, from the moment of birth, socialization for, expectations of, and preparation for a viable significant alternative to motherhood . . . women will continue to want and reproduce too many children.”

“Nothing is hidden, nothing is ever lost, nothing is ever forgotten. That's always been part of my problem.”

Source : Simon R. Green (2014). “Drinking Midnight Wine”, p.143, Jabberwocky Literary Agency, Inc.

“The picture is the imitation and converted reality of the goods, in short, an indirect substitute for reality.”

“One of the things that makes me the most nervous is that the Middle East has historically had a sense of predictability. You may have a terrorist incident or you may have a revisionist regime like the Iranians, but on the whole, the region is twenty countries. On the whole, you go to bed and you wake up and you have a pretty good idea that most of those twenty are doing just fine, you don't have to pay attention to them. There's some stuff going on but you don't have to worry about a governmental overthrow that will suddenly force you to evacuate your embassies.”

“In a trader-dominated society, the scribe is usually kept out of the management of affairs, but it given a more or less free hand in the cultural field. By frustrating the scribe's craving for commanding action, the trader draws upon himself the scribe's wrath and scorn.”