“How many details had to point in the same direction before one decided they pointed true? Depends on how costly it is to be mistaken, maybe?”

Source: Vorkosigan Saga, Captain Vorpatril's Alliance (2012), Chapter 1 (p. 21)

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Lois McMaster Bujold383

Science Fiction and fantasy author from the USA 1949

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“See, if evolution is true, who owns the world? Who makes the rules? How do we decide right from wrong? If man is God, and that's what humanism means, there is no absolute standard. How do you tell right from wrong? I mean, maybe Osama Bin Laden should tell right from wrong for everybody. Maybe congress should decide. Maybe Bill Clinton ought to decide. "Right and wrong? Never heard of that before."”

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“In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but how many can get through to you.”

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“O God! methinks, it were a happy life,
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version in original Dutch / citaat van Bilders' brief, in het Nederlands: Veel schilderijen staan op stapel, verscheidene half gereed, de andere bijna vernist, met de naam eronder. Een voornaam punt is hoe een schilderij uitvalt, een even voornaam punt wanneer, hoe en aan wie het verkocht wordt. Van deze drie punten is het 'wanneer', op dit ogenblik tenminste, voor mij weer het voornaamste. Vervolgens het 'hoe', in de zin van 'hoeveel'. Aan 'wie', is weelde of brooddronkenheid, als van iemand die lange tijd niets te eten heeft gehad en er dan nog over gaat denken, bij wie hij het liefst zijn buik gaat vullen.. ..Hoe gemeen! Schilders zijn geringe lui. Hard!
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“How many details had to point in the same direction before one decided they pointed true? Depends on how costly it is to be mistaken, maybe?”

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Lois McMaster Bujold383

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