The closer men came to perfecting for themselves a paradise, the more impatient they seemed to become with it, and with themselves as well. They made a garden of pleasure, and became progressively more miserable with it as it grew in richness and power and beauty; for then, perhaps, it was easier for them to see that something was missing in the garden, some tree or shrub that would not grow. When the world was in darkness and wretchedness, it could believe in perfection and yearn for it. But when the world became bright with reason and riches, it began to sense the narrowness of the needles eye, and that rankled for a world no longer willing to believe or yearn. Well, they were going to destroy it again, were they?--this garden Earth, civilized and knowing, to be torn apart again that Man might hope again in wretched darkness.
~ Walter M. Miller, Jr. (an excerpt of 'A Canticle for Leibowitz')
1492. As children we were taught to memorize this year with pride and joy as the year people began living full and imaginative lives on the continent of North America. Actually, people had been living full and imaginative lives on the continent of North America for hundreds of years before that. 1492 was simply the year sea pirates began to rob, cheat, and kill them.
~ Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (an excerpt from 'Breakfast of Champions')
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
~Groucho Marx