Quotes from book
Seveneves

Neal Stephenson

Seveneves is a hard science fiction novel by Neal Stephenson published in 2015. The story tells of the desperate efforts to preserve Homo sapiens in the wake of apocalyptic events on Earth following the unexplained disintegration of the Moon, and the remaking of human society as a space-based civilization after a severe genetic bottleneck.

Neal Stephenson photo

“The mere suggestion that it might be possible to look at a thing from more than one point of view was infuriating to these people.”

Neal Stephenson book Seveneves

"Five Thousand Years Later"; referring to the Diggers
Seveneves (2015), Part Three

Neal Stephenson photo

“Eve Moira had been a child of London, fascinated by the natural world, but drawn to the city. So, Kath Two looked to the bright lights of the big city.
Here, that meant gazing up into the sky.”

Neal Stephenson book Seveneves

"Five Thousand Years Later"
Seveneves (2015), Part Three

Neal Stephenson photo

““I have done research on it,” Aïda said. “Some say that bipolarity is a useful adaptation. When things are bad, you become depressed, retreat, conserve energy. When things are good, you spring into action with great energy.”
“And your point is …”
“Will you treat this condition in my offspring against my will?”

Neal Stephenson book Seveneves

What if I want to have a lot of little bipolar kids?”
"Cleft"
Seveneves (2015), Part Two

Neal Stephenson photo

“It was difficult to sustain the illusion that education was of value for kids who would not live long enough to use it. They’d never take the standardized tests that they were prepping for. … Free from the constraints of racking up high test scores or getting into colleges, students could learn for learning’s sake—which was how it ought to be. The tick-tock curriculum had dissolved and been replaced by activities improvised from day to day by teachers and parents: hiking in the mountains, doing art projects about the Cloud Ark, talking with psychologists about death, reading favorite books. In one sense Amelia and her colleagues had never been more needed, never had such an opportunity to show their quality.”

Neal Stephenson book Seveneves

"The Casting of Lots"
Seveneves (2015), Part One

Neal Stephenson photo

“Very old money was behind the Crow’s Nest. And enough of it that its Owners didn’t mind losing some every month to keep the place going. It was a kind of eleemosynary institution, created to serve not culture and not dukh, but a thing called the Purpose.”

Neal Stephenson book Seveneves

And if Ty kept working there for another few decades, perhaps one of the Owners would sit him down one day in the Bolt Hole and deign to tell him what exactly the Purpose was.
"Five Thousand Years Later"
Seveneves (2015), Part Three

Neal Stephenson photo

“If you are going to make first contact with an intelligent alien race,” said Cantabrigia Five, “dropping huge strip-mining robots into their homeland might not be your best move.”

Neal Stephenson book Seveneves

“Five Thousand Years Later” (p. 830)
Seveneves (2015), Part Three

Neal Stephenson photo

“If you show her too much favor she will be punished. If you touch her, we’re all dead,” Ty said.
“Why?”

Neal Stephenson book Seveneves

Einstein asked.
“Because this is one of those cultures that is psychotic about female reproductive organs.”
“Five Thousand Years Later” (p. 776)
Seveneves (2015), Part Three

Neal Stephenson photo

“It is only a certain type of mind that scorns what is known by all and reads secrets as jewels.”

Neal Stephenson book Seveneves

“Five Thousand Years Later” (p. 749)
Seveneves (2015), Part Three

Neal Stephenson photo

“As it turned out, imagining the fate of seven billion people was far less emotionally affecting than imagining the fate of one.”

Neal Stephenson book Seveneves

“Five Thousand Years Later” (p. 741)
Seveneves (2015), Part Three

Neal Stephenson photo

“If history was any guide, those best at violence might end up ruling over everyone else.”

Neal Stephenson book Seveneves

“Five Thousand Years Later” (p. 684)
Seveneves (2015), Part Three

Neal Stephenson photo

“I have been clinically depressed for most of my life. I once used drugs to fix it. Then I stopped. I stopped because I decided they were making me stupid, and I’d rather be miserable than stupid. I am what I am.”

Neal Stephenson book Seveneves

“Cleft” (pp. 560-561)
Seveneves (2015), Part Two

Neal Stephenson photo

“There is a process known as parthenogenesis, literally virgin birth, by which a uniparental embryo can be created out of a normal egg. It’s been done with animals. The only reason no one ever did it with humans is because it seemed ethically dodgy, as well as completely unnecessary given the willingness of men to impregnate women every chance they got.”

Neal Stephenson book Seveneves

“Cleft” (pp. 552-553)
Seveneves (2015), Part Two

Neal Stephenson photo

“We can’t make the same mistake again,” Aïda said, “of fooling ourselves. Believing in shit that isn’t real.”

Neal Stephenson book Seveneves

“Cleft” (p. 551)
Seveneves (2015), Part Two

Neal Stephenson photo

“We can’t run this experiment a thousand times to see the range of different outcomes. We can only run it once. The human mind has trouble with situations like that. We see patterns where they don’t exist, we find meaning in randomness.”

Neal Stephenson book Seveneves

“YMIR” (pp. 423-424)
Seveneves (2015), Part Two

Neal Stephenson photo

“We did not expect to have a backup system for the rest of the universe. We can rely upon it to be cold most of the time.”

Neal Stephenson book Seveneves

“YMIR” (p. 354)
Seveneves (2015), Part Two

Neal Stephenson photo

“Hotness was a part of the human condition and it was pointless to pretend that it did not exist.”

Neal Stephenson book Seveneves

“Day 700” (p. 276)
Seveneves (2015), Part Two

Neal Stephenson photo

“People who claim they are motivated by the Purpose end up behaving differently—and generally better—than people who serve other masters.”
“So it is like believing in God.”

Neal Stephenson book Seveneves

“Maybe yes. But without the theology, the scripture, the pigheaded certainty.”
Epilogue (p. 860)
Seveneves (2015), Part Three

Neal Stephenson photo

“I hope that this assignment will not prove an inconvenience,” Doc continued.
“All duty is inconvenient to a greater or lesser degree, or it would not be duty.”

Neal Stephenson book Seveneves

“Five Thousand Years Later” (p. 648)
Seveneves (2015), Part Three

Neal Stephenson photo

“Trying to, you know, persuade others to join our side. Trying to make the other side look bad. Just like the Internet always was.”

Neal Stephenson book Seveneves

“Endurance” (pp. 518-519)
Seveneves (2015), Part Two

Neal Stephenson photo

“You could get use to anything. You got used to it and then time raced by, and before you knew it, time was up.”

Neal Stephenson book Seveneves

“Consolidation: Day 260” (p. 173)
Seveneves (2015), Part One