Favorite lines - Inspiration thread

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jjdebenedictis

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"Behind every man now alive stand thirty ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living."
-- Arthur C. Clarke, preface to 2001: A Space Odyssey

That line stood my hair on end, and it's the first thing you read in the book.

"Humans need fantasy to be human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape."
-- Terry Pratchett, The Hogfather

Sir Terry writes comedic fantasy, but he regularly slips in little bits of wisdom -- some hopeful and some horrifying -- that kick you in the gut. I've always loved the above description of what it is to be human (as spoken by the Grim Reaper, who is rather a genteel and well-meaning fellow in the book.)
 

Nonpareil

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"Behind every man now alive stand thirty ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living."
-- Arthur C. Clarke, preface to 2001: A Space Odyssey

That line stood my hair on end, and it's the first thing you read in the book.

"Humans need fantasy to be human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape."
-- Terry Pratchett, The Hogfather

Sir Terry writes comedic fantasy, but he regularly slips in little bits of wisdom -- some hopeful and some horrifying -- that kick you in the gut. I've always loved the above description of what it is to be human (as spoken by the Grim Reaper, who is rather a genteel and well-meaning fellow in the book.)

Seconding the Sir Terry recommendation. Death and Granny Weatherwain particularly great sources of quotables:

"Haven't you got any romance in your soul?" asked Magrat plaintively.
"No," said Granny. "I ain't. And stars don't care what you wish, and magic don't make things better, and no one doesn't get burnt who sticks their hand in a fire. If you want to amount to anything as a witch, Magrat Garlick, you got to learn three things: what's real, what's not real, and what's the difference."

But my personal favorite quote from Discworld is from Reaper Man, when Death pleads with Azrael:
LORD, WE KNOW THAT THERE IS NO GOOD ORDER EXCEPT THAT WHICH WE CREATE.

THERE IS NO HOPE BUT US. THERE IS NO MERCY BUT US. THERE IS NO JUSTICE. THERE IS JUST US.

ALL THINGS THAT ARE, ARE OURS. BUT WE MUST CARE, FOR IF WE DO NOT CARE, THEN THERE IS NOTHING BUT BLIND OBLIVION. AND EVEN OBLIVION MUST END ONE DAY.

LORD, WILL YOU GRANT ME JUST A LITTLE TIME? FOR THE PROPER BALANCE OF THINGS. TO RETURN WHAT WAS GIVEN. FOR THE SAKE OF PRISONERS AND THE FLIGHT OF BIRDS.

LORD, WHAT CAN THE HARVEST HOPE FOR, IF NOT FOR THE CARE OF THE REAPER MAN?

Waterworks. Every time.

EDIT: I also highly recommend that everyone who hasn't read it yet pick up a copy of The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster. One of my favorite moments in it is in my signature, but the entire boom is basically a love letter to the English language and all the fun things you can do with it.
 
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phantasy

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Shall I tell you what sociology teaches us about the human race? I’ll give it to you in a nutshell. Show me a man or woman alone and I’ll show you a saint. Give me two and they’ll fall in love. Give me three and they’ll invent the charming thing we call “society.” Give me four and they’ll build a pyramid. Give me five and they’ll make one an outcast. Give me six and they’ll reinvent prejudice. Give me seven and in seven years they’ll reinvent warfare.

Stephen King. The Stand.

------------------------

Loved this. Seriously, standing ovation.
 

Sonsofthepharaohs

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"Behind every man now alive stand thirty ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living."
-- Arthur C. Clarke, preface to 2001: A Space Odyssey

Only thirty? :Huh: That seems incredibly low for two hundred thousand years of homo sapiens. Even generously estimating a generation at 25 years (for ease of calculation) we're talking 8000 generations. I have no idea how one would adjust that for population growth, but... I'm still betting that more than 180 billion people have walked this earth before the present inhabitants ;)
 
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Chromodynamic

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Only thirty? :Huh: That seems incredibly low for two hundred thousand years of homo sapiens. Even generously estimating a generation at 25 years (for ease of calculation) we're talking 8000 generations. I have no idea how one would adjust that for population growth, but... I'm still betting that more than 180 billion people have walked this earth before the present inhabitants ;)

Even by your estimations, that's 25 dead for every one alive today, less than in the quote.

But that book was written in 1968, when there were only 3.5B people in the world. According to some well-founded research, at most, 110B people have ever lived. So the thirty for one is very accurate for 1968.

And for today, it's just fifteen for one.
 

Sonsofthepharaohs

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Even by your estimations, that's 25 dead for every one alive today, less than in the quote.

Can you explain that please? I really don't understand how you got that figure from my estimation of 8000 generations. PM me if you want so we don't derail the thread too much :)

p.s. I found the study: http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2002/HowManyPeopleHaveEverLivedonEarth.aspx

I don't know about well founded. I find their numbers totally and utterly made up, and their calculations fundamentally flawed, lol
 
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