Source: Group Theory in the Bedroom (2008), Chapter 1, Clock Of Ages, p. 7
“I do not pretend to understand how gears and levers can bring forth consciousness, sir, but it certainly appears that somehow they have.”
Source: Arabella of Mars (2016), Chapter 20, “Khema” (p. 290)
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David D. Levine 20
science fiction writer 1961Related quotes

“Once we have learned to read, the meaning of words can somehow register without consciousness.”
Anthony Marcel, Ph.D, Cambridge University, quoted in Speed Reading - Harness Your Computer's Power to Triple Your Reading Speed (2005) by Louis Crowe, p. 18
Misattributed

“We understand how dangerous a mask can be. We all become what we pretend to be.”
Variant: We all become what we pretend to be.
Source: The Name of the Wind
“I don't understand what's going on, but i'll just pretend that I do.”

“But no human power can subdue this rebellion without using the Emancipation lever as I have done.”
1860s, Interview with Alexander W. Randall and Joseph T. Mills (1864)
Context: My enemies say I am now carrying on this war for the sole purpose of abolition. It is and will be carried on so long as I am President for the sole purpose of restoring the Union. But no human power can subdue this rebellion without using the Emancipation lever as I have done.

“To pretend, I actually do the thing: I have therefore only pretended to pretend.”