Quotes from book

Earth Made of Glass

“There is a saying among those of us who have careers with the Council of Humanity that skiers, cooks, painters, and diplomats must work with what is in front of them.”

“In discussing the existence, or not, of the soul: "I am Caledon. Quite a few of my fellow Caledons still believe there is some essence to a human being, something that makes a person unique." "And you don't." "I don't. I see that people who believe in anything beyond plain physical reality are mainly engaged in making themselves or others miserable."”

“Shan had always said that in any multiple choice about human motivation, the real answer was always "all of the above."”

“It's a good idea for diplomats to keep their word in small matters. It makes the later complete betrayals more of a surprise.”

“Human beings always say they prefer peace, but it takes a saint to talk us into not assaulting our neighbors.”

“Almost every culture in the Thousand Cultures had some wisdom literature, and much of it was the same between any two cultures.... Cultures tend to be alike in much of what they think are the basic virtues, but one of the ones they are most alike in, though it rarely appears in their book of wisdom, is: Distrust strangers, fear foreigners, dread novelty.”

“If you want to learn a culture, you have to learn how to like what it likes, rather than go looking for something that you like.”