Anathem Quotes

“Wikipedia: Anathem”

““These matters are important whether or not you take the trouble to understand them.””

“Fraa Jad nodded, but it was hard to tell whether he was accepting the challenge, or really enjoying the cake.”

“"They knew many things but had no idea why. And strangely this made them more, rather than less, certain that they were right."”

“Tris was pudgy and not especially good looking, but she had the personality of a beautiful girl because she'd been raised in a math.”

“"He told us that a lone avout was being pursued by a mob. We saw it as an emergence."”

“Much pruning had taken place in recent weeks. I am now absent in many versions of the cosmos where you are present.”

““Nothing is more important than that you see and love the beauty that is right in front of you, or else you will have no defense against the ugliness that will hem you in and come at you in so many ways.””

“But in that we started so many things in that moment, we brought to their ends many others that have been the subject matter of this account, and so here is where I draw a line across the leaf and call it the end.”

“Jesry hadn’t mentioned Orolo until now. Certain nuances in his posture and voice told me he was grieving — but only because I’d known him my whole life. He was going to grieve in a funny, hidden way, over a long period of time.”

““Do you need transportation? Tools? Stuff?”
"Our opponent is an alien starship packed with atomic bombs. We have a protractor."
“Okay, I’ll go home and see if I can scrounge up a ruler and a piece of string.”
“That’d be great.””

““I almost feel a little let down that we are no longer breaking any rules.”
“I know it must be an odd sensation for you, Fraa Erasmas, but you may get used to it after a while.”
Barb didn’t get the joke. We had to explain it. He still didn’t get it.”

“Neither of us said a word as we picked our way down the path for the next quarter of an hour, and the sky receded to a deep violet. I had the illusion that, as it got darker, it moved away from us, expanding like a bubble, rushing away at a million light-years an hour, and as it whooshed past stars, we began to see them.”

“Yul had simply launched himself at the guy from some distance away, and body-checked him at full speed, stopping on a dime in midair as he transferred all of his energy into the target.
"Conservation of momentum," he announced, "it's not just a good idea — it's the law!"”

“I went to Saunt Grod’s chalk hall and took a seat in the large empty space that, as usual, surrounded Barb. There was a lot he didn’t know, but nothing he was afraid to ask about, and ask about, and ask about, until he understood it perfectly. I had learned more theorics in six weeks, simply by being willing to sit next to Barb, than I had in six months before Apert.”

““Give me an adventure. I’m not talking about some massive adventure. Just something that would make getting fired seem small. Something that I might remember when I’m old.”
“I can’t predict the future,” I said, “but based on what little I know so far, I’m afraid it has to be a massive adventure or nothing.”
“Great!”
“Probably the kind of adventure that ends in a mass burial.””

“"I guess that people like to think they are not only living but propagating their way of life."
"That's right. People have a need to feel that they are part of some sustainable project. Something that will go on without them. It creates a feeling of stability. I believe that the need for that kind of stability is as basic and as desperate as some of the other, more obvious needs. But there's more than one way to get it."”

“The suur with the needle kept running that string through my flesh and I gritted my teeth so hard I could hear them creaking. Finally she tied it off and walked away without a word — without even a look. I had an upsight: I might have warm feelings for these people because they had helped me and because I had seen way too many speelies about them before I’d been Collected. The Valers, however, had not been Evoked because they were nice guys.”

“Those who think through possible outcomes with discipline, forge connections, in so doing, to other cosmi in which those outcomes are more than mere possibilities. Such a consciousness is measurably, quantitatively different from one that has not undertaken the same work and so, yes, is able to make correct decisions in an Emergence where an untrained mind would be of little use.”

“Barb wanted only to understand this one problem or equation chalked on the slate before him now, today, whether or not it was convenient for the others around him. And he was willing to stand there asking questions about it through supper and past curfew. Barb’s willingness to do things the hard way in the near term was making his advancement toward the long goal — even though he didn’t have one — swifter and surer. And now I was advancing in step with him.”