Joel Anto Johnson

Sacrifice and the agreement to sacrifice had written human history in blood.

Empathy and love were inseparable and inexplicable.

Love was as hardwired into the structure of the universe as gravity and matter/antimatter.

If God evolved, and Sol was sure that God must, then that evolution was toward empathy-toward a shared sense of suffering rather than power and dominion.

Religion and ethics were not always-or even frequently-mutually compatible. The demands of religious absolutism or fundamentalism or rampaging relativism often reflected the worst aspects of contemporary culture or prejudices rather than a system which both man and God could live under with a sense of real justice.

"Sometimes," said General Morpurgo, taking her hand, "dreams are all that separate us from the machines."

The Great Change is when humankind accepts its role as part of the natural order of the universe instead of its role as a cancer.

"Who can taste chaos and come back sane?"

Are we so sure that Christ always knew what to do next? He knew what had to be done. It is not always the same as knowing what to do.

Great powers may be shaping the general turn of events, but human personalities still determine their own fate.

Losing our ignorance can be dangerous because our ignorance is a shield.

When you meet a swordsman, meet him with a sword. Do not offer a poem to anyone but a poet.