“Civilisations beyond number had risen from obscurity, considering themselves masters of all creation, before fading back into the footnotes of history.”

—  Alastair Reynolds , book House of Suns

Source: House of Suns (2008), Chapter 12 (p. 152)

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 "Civilisations beyond number had risen from obscurity, considering themselves masters of all creation, before fading bac…" by Alastair Reynolds?
Alastair Reynolds photo
Alastair Reynolds 198
British novelist and astronomer 1966

Related quotes

Vladimir Nabokov photo

“Human life is but a series of footnotes to a vast obscure unfinished masterpiece”

Vladimir Nabokov book Lolita

Variant: Existence is a series of footnotes to a vast, obscure, unfinished masterpiece.
Source: Lolita

“It no longer matters who consider themselves the masters of events. Events no longer obey their masters.”

Dan Simmons book Hyperion

Source: Hyperion (1989), Chapter 6 (p. 472)

Robert G. Ingersoll photo

“All the theologians—all the believers in “special creation” were absolutely wrong. The Garden of Eden faded away, Adam and Eve fell back to dust, the snake crawled into the grass, and Jehovah became a miserable myth.”

Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer

Why I Am an Agnostic (1896)

Joseph De Maistre photo

“It is always necessary to call men back to history, which is the first master in politics, or more exactly the only master.”

Joseph De Maistre (1753–1821) Savoyard philosopher, writer, lawyer, and diplomat

"Of Monarchy," p. 120
Against Rousseau (1795)

Will Cuppy photo

“[Footnote] Great men seem to have only one purpose in life — getting into history. That may be all they are good for.”

Will Cuppy (1884–1949) American writer

The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody (1950), Part VI: Now We're Getting Somewhere, Captain John Smith

Nayef Al-Rodhan photo

“The history of human civilisation is a history of mutual borrowings.”

Nayef Al-Rodhan (1959) philosopher, neuroscientist, geostrategist, and author

Source: Sustainable History and the Dignity of Man (2009), p.28

Will Cuppy photo

“[Footnote] Pericles immediately banished his strongest rival, Cimon, who had achieved popularity by bringing the bones of Theseus, slayer of the Minotaur, back to Athens from the island of Scyros. As Theseus was a myth, he could hardly have had any bones. Nevertheless, Cimon brought them back.”

Will Cuppy (1884–1949) American writer

The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody (1950), Part II: Ancient Greeks and Worse, Pericles

Baruch Spinoza photo

“It seems to me that Spinoza shares the fate of good old Saturn in the fable. The new gods pulled down the sublime one from the lofty throne of knowledge. He faded back into the solemn obscurity of the imagination; there he lives and now dwells with the other Titans in dignified exile.”

Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677) Dutch philosopher

Original in German: Spinosa, scheint mirs, hat ein gleiches Schicksal, wie der gute alte Saturn der Fabel. Die neuen Götter haben den Herrlichen vom hohen Thron der Wissenschaft herabgestürzt. In das heilige Dunkel der Fantasie ist er zurückgewichen, da lebt und haust er nun mit den andern Titanen in ehrwürdiger Verbannung.
Friedrich Schlegel, Rede über die Mythologie, in Friedrich Schlegels Gespräch über die Poesie (1800)
S - Z

Vladimir Nabokov photo

“If I correctly understand the sense of this succinct observation, our poet suggests here that human life is but a series of footnotes to a vast obscure unfinished masterpiece.”

Vladimir Nabokov book Pale Fire

Source: Pale Fire

Hayao Miyazaki photo

“The creation of a single world comes from a huge number of fragments and chaos.”

Hayao Miyazaki (1941) Japanese animator, film director, and mangaka

Variant: The creation of a single world comes from a huge number of fragments and chaos.

Related topics