“The Dodo never had a chance. He seems to have been invented for the sole purpose of becoming extinct and that was all he was good for.”

Source: High-Rise (1975), Ch. 11
Context: It's a mistake to imagine now we're all moving towards a state of happy primitivism. The model here seems to be less the noble savage than our un-innocent post-Freudian selves, outraged by all that over-indulgent toilet-training, dedicated breast-feeding and parental affection – obviously a more dangerous mix than anything our Victorian forebears had to cope with. Our neighbours had happy childhoods to a man and still feel angry. Perhaps they resent never having had a chance to become perverse.

"Edward Witten" interview, Superstrings: A Theory of Everything? (1992) ed. P.C.W. Davies, Julian Brown
Context: It's been said that string theory is part of the physics of the twenty-first century that fell by chance into the twentieth century. That's a remark that was made by a leading physicist about fifteen years ago.... String theory was invented essentially by accident in a long series of events, starting with the Veneziano model... No one invented it on purpose, it was invented in a lucky accident.... By rights, string theory shouldn't have been invented until our knowledge of some of the areas that are prerequisite... had developed to the point that it was possible for us to have the right concept of what it is all about.

Source: A New Concept of the Universe (1953), p. 139

Prologue
The House of the Four Winds (1935)

The Decay of Lying (1889)
Context: If Nature had been comfortable, mankind would never have invented architecture... In a house, we all feel of the proper proportions. Everything is subordinated to us, fashioned for our use and our pleasure.

Source: The Riverworld series, The Dark Design (1977), Ch. 67

Source: Cold Mountain

Source: The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

Legendary Special-Effects Artist Rick Baker on How CGI Killed His Industry https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/jma87d/legendary-rick-bakers-retirement-auction-marks-the-end-of-the-non-cgi-era-888 (June 8, 2015)