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Quote by Eleanor Catton

“The billionaire class undermines solidarity by its very existence; it's fundamentally unsustainable, it's regressive, and it's unjust. Citizenship should not be able to be bought and sold.”

Quote by Eleanor Catton

Book:Birnam Wood
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Birnam Wood

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Author

Eleanor Catton
Eleanor Catton

Eleanor Catton is a New Zealand author born on September 24, 1985, in Wellington. She gained international recognition when her second novel "The Luminaries" won the Man Booker Prize in 2013, making her one of the youngest winners in the prize's history at age 28. Known for her intricate narrative structures and historical settings, Catton's writing combines mystery, history, and literary experimentation, establishing her as one of contemporary literature's most innovative voices. more

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“Every society possesses what the philosopher Axel Honneth calls a “recognition order.” This is the criteria used to confer respect and recognition on some people and not others. In our society, we confer huge amounts of recognition on those with beauty, wealth, or prestigious educational affiliations, and millions feel invisible, unrecognized, and left out.”

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“So what is it about billionaires and survivalism?’ she’d asked him, the third or fourth time they met. ‘Is it just an arms race? Like, just a pissing contest? Or do you all know something that we don’t?’ ‘Both,’ he said, quite calmly. ‘I mean, of course it’s a pissing contest. What isn’t?’ She tried to think of something that wasn’t, then decided that that was too predictable. ‘So what do you know that the rest of us don’t?’ she said instead. ‘I know how easy it was,’ said Lemoine. Mira didn’t follow. ‘How easy what was?’ ‘All of it,’ he said, shrugging. ‘Getting rich. Staying rich. Winning. It was all so easy. I just took what I wanted, and it was mine. I said what I wanted, and people got it for me. I did what I wanted, and nobody stopped me. So simple. And if it was easy for me, then it could be easy for anybody, and that’s a very frightening thought. Apart from anything else, it would be untenable. Everyone can’t be on top, or it wouldn’t be the top any more, would it? That’s just a fact.’ ‘And I’ve been in the citadels of power,’ he added. ‘I’ve eaten at the high tables; I’ve seen behind the doors that never open. Everyone’s the same. You reach a certain level and it’s all exactly the same: it’s all just luck and loopholes and being in the right place at the right time, and compound growth taking care of the rest. That’s why we’re all building barricades. It’s in case the rest of you ever figure out how incredibly easy it was for us to get to where we are.’ ‘Jesus,’ Mira said. ’That’s fucking dark.’ ‘Well, if you get too depressed, remember that it’s also just a pissing contest.”

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“And what’s even more fucked up is that you totally have it in your power to make things better. Like, in all of history, there has literally never been a group of people better equipped to avert catastrophe than the billionaires alive today. The technology you have access to, and the resources, and the money, and the influence, and the connections—literally, no one in history has ever been more powerful. Ever.’ ‘Yes. We’re like gods,’ he said, matter-of-factly. ‘But gods can be capricious, Mira. They don’t always do what you want them to. They move in mysterious ways.”

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Book:Birnam Wood
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