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Quote by Jack McDevitt

“How does it happen that the most intractable types always rise to the top?”

Quote by Jack McDevitt

Book:The Engines of God

Work

The Engines of God

In this thought-provoking science fiction novel, the discovery of intelligent extraterrestrial life leads to a profound transformation of human society and culture. The story delves into the ethical, philosophical, and political implications of this discovery, offering a rich tapestry of speculative fiction. more

Author

Jack McDevitt is an American science fiction author known for his hard science fiction works, born on April 14, 1935. His novels often feature themes such as time travel, extraterrestrial life, and cosmic exploration. McDevitt's writing career began in the 1970s, and he has published numerous works to date. more

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“Don't assume that a species is intelligent because it produces intelligent individuals.”

Individual Produce Intelligent Assuming Species

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“To read great books does not mean one becomes ‘bookish’; it means that something of the terrible insight of Dostoyevsky, of the richly-charged imagination of Shakespeare, of the luminous wisdom of Goethe, actually passes into the personality of the reader; so that in contact with the chaos of ordinary life certain free and flowing outlines emerge, like the forms of some classic picture, endowing both people and things with a grandeur beyond what is visible to the superficial glance.”

“Having once aroused in our mind enough faith in our own will-power to create a universe of contemplation and forget everything else, there are few limitations to the happiness we may enjoy.”

Mind May Enough Universe Enjoy Forget Limitation Contemplation Will Power Forget Everything

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“Our rulers at the present day, with their machines and their preachers, are all occupied in putting into our heads the preposterous notion that activity rather than contemplation is the object of life.”

Objects Activity Machines Notion Contemplation Rulers Preacher Present Day

Book:In defence of sensuality

Source: In defence of sensuality

“If by the time we're sixty we haven't learned what a knot of paradox and contradiction life is, and how exquisitely the good and the bad are mingled in every action we take, and what a compromising hostess Our Lady of Truth is, we haven't grown old to much purpose.”

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Book:The art of growing old

Source: The art of growing old

“The more you are talked about the less powerful you are.”

Powerful Power Speakers

Book:Collected Edition of the Novels and Tales by the Right Honorable B. Disraeli: Endymion

Source: Collected Edition of the Novels and Tales by the Right Honorable B. Disraeli: Endymion

“Ambition is the grand enemy of all peace.”

Author:John Cowper Powys

“Every day that we allow ourselves to take things for granted, every day that we allow some little physical infirmity or worldly worry to come between us and our obstinate, indignant, defiant exultation, we are weakening our genius for life.”

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“The love that interferes and knows not how to leave alone is a love alien to Nature's ways.”

Knows Way Aliens Interfere

Author:John Cowper Powys

“What is the importance of human lives? Is it their continuing alive for so many years like animals in a menagerie? The value of a man cannot be judged by the number of diseases from which he escapes. The value of a man is in his human qualities: in his character, in his conscience, in the nobility and magnanimity, of his soul. Torturing animals to prolong human life has separated science from the most important thing that life has produced - the human conscience.”