“We denizens of Earth have a common vice: We take what we’re offered, whether we need it or not.
You can get into a lot of trouble that way.”
Protection (p. 101)
Short fiction, Pilgrimage to Earth (1957)
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Robert Sheckley 114
American writer 1928–2005Related quotes

Interview (March 1996)

Said in an interview with Politico, 31 December 2018 on the revoking of Article 50 to allow time for preparation of the UK's exit of the European Union. McTague, Tom (31 December 2018) Ken Clarke: My ‘complacent’ generation sowed seeds of populism https://www.politico.eu/article/ken-clarke-interview-brexit-populism-tories/ in Politico. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
2018

(in his first-ever interview, 1991) source http://www.followmearound.com/presscuttings.php?year=1991&cutting=10

Washington Post, October 2012 http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/exhaustion-is-not-a-status-symbol/2012/10/02/19d27aa8-0cba-11e2-bb5e-492c0d30bff6_story_2.html

“The only thing that you can get into without a lot of trouble is a lot of trouble.”
id.

“If we’re to sustain the unity we need to get through these difficult times,”
2016, Memorial Service for Fallen Dallas Police Officers (July 2016)
Context: I've seen how a spirit of unity, born of tragedy, can gradually dissipate, overtaken by the return to business as usual, by inertia and old habits and expediency. I see how easily we slip back into our old notions, because they’re comfortable, we’re used to them. I’ve seen how inadequate words can be in bringing about lasting change. I’ve seen how inadequate my own words have been. And so I’m reminded of a passage in *John’s Gospel [First John]: Let us love not with words or speech, but with actions and in truth. If we’re to sustain the unity we need to get through these difficult times, if we are to honor these five outstanding officers who we’ve lost, then we will need to act on the truths that we know. And that’s not easy. It makes us uncomfortable. But we’re going to have to be honest with each other and ourselves.