Quotes from The Only Girl in the World: A Memoir

289 pages

Rating: (2.6K votes)


“Life is stronger than anything else, there is always a solution, and I will find it. I’m sure of that.”
― quote from The Only Girl in the World: A Memoir


“With every new reading, I’m gripped by the ending’s harsh lessons. ‘Don’t expect anything of him,’ it seems to be telling me. ‘Even if someday he realizes his own folly, he is dangerous and beyond redemption. Get out!”
― quote from The Only Girl in the World: A Memoir


“My true treasure is your presence, it is the rays of intelligence that you have poured into my heart.”
― quote from The Only Girl in the World: A Memoir


“The only sustenance that matters is the love in my dog’s eyes and the hope of meeting people who dare to truly live.”
― quote from The Only Girl in the World: A Memoir


“Great minds defend values—like justice in the case of Victor Hugo, and equality for Emile Zola.”
― quote from The Only Girl in the World: A Memoir



“the fight is about believing the unbelievable’, and who also believes that ‘life flows through everything’.”
― quote from The Only Girl in the World: A Memoir


“Playing chess with my father is torture. I have to sit very upright on the edge of my chair and respect the rules of impassivity while I consider my next move. I can feel myself dissolving under his stare. When I move a pawn he asks sarcastically, 'Have you really thought about what you're doing?' I panic and want to move the pawn back. He doesn't allow it: 'You've touched the piece, now you have to follow through. Think before you act. Think.”
― quote from The Only Girl in the World: A Memoir


Popular quotes

“–Todos los hombres son esclavos. Ellos lo han querido así. Solo Dios puede liberarlos. Él, que les dio la libertad en el nacimiento, aunque ellos hayan renunciado siempre a ella y siempre renuncien.”
― Taylor Caldwell, quote from Dear and Glorious Physician


“حبي لكِ أعمق من أن أذهب معكِ إلى الفراش”
― Gabriel García Márquez, quote from Innocent Erendira and Other Stories


“Thomas,” Inez interrupted with exasperation. “I’m trying to tell you I love you.” “You do?” he asked, a smile spreading halfway across his face. “But then why did you tell Terri that you wanted to delay the turn?” “It wasn’t you. It was because of the pain involved,” she said with a grimace and then admitted, “I don’t like pain, Thomas. I mean I’m practically phobic about it. My whole life, I’ve avoided any situation that might involve pain. My dentist even has to gas me to fill a cavity.” Inez shrugged unhappily. “I probably would have delayed and put it off as long as I possibly could if you hadn’t had to change me to save my life. In truth, Blondie probably did us both a favor by precipitating the events that forced you to turn me.”
― Lynsay Sands, quote from Vampires are Forever


“Disaster area. I've seen some messy offices, Leo, but his absolutely has to win first prize.”
― Kylie Chan, quote from White Tiger


Worldwide Long Range Solutions Special Interest Group [ ¤ SIG AeR.WLRS 253787890.546]. Space Colonization Subgroup. Open discussion board.

Okay, so imagine we get past the next few rough decades and finally do what we should have back in TwenCen. Say we mine asteroids for platinum, discover the secrets of true nanotechnology, and set Von Neumann "sheep" grazing on the moon to produce boundless wealth. To listen to some of the rest of you, all our problems would then be over. The next step, star travel, and colonization of the galaxy, would be trivial.

But hold on! Even assuming we solve how to maintain long-lasting ecologies in space and get so wealthy the costs of star-flight aren't crippling, you've still got the problem of time.

I mean, most hypothetical designs show likely starships creeping along at no more than ten percent of the speed of light, a whole lot slower than those sci-fi cruisers we see zipping on three-vee. At such speeds it may take five, ten generations to reach a good colony site. Meanwhile, passengers will have to maintain villages and farms and cranky, claustrophobic grandkids, all inside their hollowed-out, spinning worldlets.

What kind of social engineering will that take? Do you know how to design a closed society that'd last so long without flying apart? Oh, I think it can be done. But don't pretend it'll be simple!

Nor will be solving the dilemma of gene pool isolation. In the arks and zoos right now, a lot of rescued species are dying off even though the microecologies are right, simply because too few individuals were included in the original mix. For a healthy gene pool you need diversity, variety, heterozygosity.

One thing's clear, no starship will make it carrying only one racial group. What'll be needed, frankly, are mongrels… people who've bred back and forth with just about everybody and seem to enjoy it.”
― David Brin, quote from Earth


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