““A splendidly inept thing,” Sylveste said, nodding despite himself.
“What?”
“The human capacity for grief. It just isn’t capable of providing an adequate emotional response once the dead exceed a few dozen in number. And it doesn’t just level off—it just gives up, resets itself to zero. Admit it. None of us feel a damn about these people.””

— Alastair Reynolds , book Revelation Space

Source: Revelation Space (2000), Chapter 15 (p. 323).

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "“A splendidly inept thing,” Sylveste said, nodding despite himself. “What?” “The human capacity for grief. It just is…" by Alastair Reynolds?

Alastair Reynolds 198

British novelist and astronomer 1966

Related quotes

“There is a point when grief exceeds the human capacity to emote, and as a result one is strangely composed”

Abraham Verghese book Cutting for Stone

Source: Cutting for Stone

“There are millions of chords. There are millions of numbers. And everyone forgets the one that is a zero. But without the zero, numbers are just arithmetic. Without the empty chord, music is just noise.”

Terry Pratchett book Soul Music

Source: Soul Music

“Just because someone isn’t willing or able to love us, it doesn’t mean that we are unlovable.”

Brené Brown (1965) US writer and professor

Source: Rising Strong

“What's the dominant emotion associated with purity? Anger. The most aggressive people are the ones who insist on being utterly pure. It's responsible for countless wars at all levels of society. Far better to have no aspiration, no hope and relate to things just as they are.”

Ken McLeod (1948) Canadian lama

Heart Sutra Workshop http://www.unfetteredmind.org/heart-sutra-commentary-3#sect13. Unfettered Mind http://www.unfetteredmind.org. (2008-09-13) (Topic: Life)

““But what’s the good of this sort of ‘understanding,’” Dearri said, “if it doesn’t result in practical, technological applications? Just word juggling, isn’t it?”
“You ask questions like a true profiteer,” Shevek said, and not a soul there knew he had insulted Dearri with the most contemptuous word in his vocabulary; indeed Dearri nodded a bit, accepting the compliment with satisfaction.”

Ursula K. Le Guin Hainish Cycle

Source: Hainish Cycle, (1974), Chapter 7 (p. 224)

“And at once I saw with great clarity that human beings possess two bodies. One is the physical body, the other -- just as real, just as self-contained -- is the emotional body. Like the physical body, the emotional body reaches a certain level of growth, and then stops. But it stops rather sooner than the physical body. So most of us possess the emotional body of a retarded adolescent.”

Colin Wilson (1931–2013) author

Source: Access to Inner Worlds (1990), p. 23

“Rational people,” said the man, “realize that their lives must be made meaningful. Meaning isn’t just given us.”

Joanna Russ (1937–2011) American author

Source: Fiction, And Chaos Died (1970), Chapter 3 (p. 155)

“We definitely wanna increase the number of women. But just increasing the number of women isn’t necessarily going to– improve the– the fact that content on Wikipedia itself is skewed.”

Adrianne Wadewitz (1977–2014) academic and Wikipedian

Wholf, Tracy (May 18, 2014). "'Wikipedian' editor took on website’s gender gap" http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/wikipedian-editor-took-wikipedias-gender-gap/. PBS NewsHour (PBS). Retrieved May 19, 2014.

“You think I have the responsibilty… I have the responsibility to give the fans a good time! (nods at camera, then pauses)… that just sounds… kinky.”

Thom Yorke (1968) English musician, philanthropist and singer-songwriter

“But what if no one's watching?
What if when we're dead, we are just dead?
What if there's no time to lose?
What if there's things we gotta do,
Things that need to be said?”

Ani DiFranco (1970) musician and activist

What If No One's Watching
Song lyrics

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Alastair Reynolds 198

Related quotes

Related topics