Quotes from This Alien Shore

C.S. Friedman ·  564 pages

Rating: (3.1K votes)


“The more complex our security becomes, the more complex our enemy’s efforts must be.

The more we seek to shut him out, the better he must learn to become at breaking in.

Each new level of security that we manage becomes no more than a stepping-stone for him who would surpass us, for he bases his next assault upon our best defenses.

It is a ware that can never truly be won… but one we dare not lose.”
― C.S. Friedman, quote from This Alien Shore


“All data leaves a trail. The search for data leaves a trail. The erasure of data leaves a trail. The absence of data, under the right circumstances, can leave the clearest trail of all.”
― C.S. Friedman, quote from This Alien Shore


“In a world where data is coin of the realm, and transmissions are guarded by no better sentinels than man-made codes and corruptible devices, there is no such thing as a secret.”
― C.S. Friedman, quote from This Alien Shore


“It struck Hsing suddenly that Masada didn't even understand the nature of his own genius. To him the patterns of thought and motive that he sensed in the virus were self-explanatory, and those who could not see them were simply not looking hard enough. Yet he would readily admit to his own inability to analyze more human contact, even on the most basic level. That was part and parcel of being iru.

What a strange combination of skills and flaws. What an utterly alien profile. Praise the founders of Guera for having taught them all to nurture such specialized talent, rather than seeking to "cure" it. It was little wonder that most innovations in technology now came from the Gueran colonies, and that Earth, who set such a strict standard of psychological "normalcy," now produced little that was truly exciting. Thank God their own ancestors had left that doomed planet before they, too, had lost the genes of wild genius. Thank God they had seen the creative holocaust coming, and escaped it.”
― C.S. Friedman, quote from This Alien Shore


“Connecting to the outernet was less of a shock this time, as the monitor gave him a sense of distance from it, but it was still annoying. How did these people live with such a system, stalked by advertisements and "free" offers and icons that would take you to another site, unasked-for, the moment you gave them your attention? It was like wending your way through an obstacle course. Perhaps after a while you just learned to tune it all out... or perhaps you could buy programs that did it for you. He would have to design himself one of those before he did any more real work on the outernet, though he suspected that the consumer programs which were stalking him were capable of adapting to anything he could turn out quickly.

Advertising: the ultimate predator.

He longed for the simplicity of the Gueran network, which simply did what it was supposed to and no more. When had these people lost touch with the fact that the purpose of a network was to facilitate communication, not impede it?”
― C.S. Friedman, quote from This Alien Shore



About the author

C.S. Friedman
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Fazemos tanto mal a nós e aos outros quando nos ofendemos quanto ao ofendermos.”
― Sophie Hannah, quote from Hurting Distance


“Strange how the present could become the past so quickly.”
― Jay Bell, quote from Something Like Spring


“He smirked and sat up "Simmer down, Jelly Bean.”
― Stacey O'Neale, quote from Mortal Enchantment


“I think it was your language,” Miranda said mildly. “She said most of them were idiots, too.” “That is not at all what I said,” Olivia put in. “I said they were bores.” “Sheep,” Miranda confirmed. “Goats,” Olivia added with a shrug. Turner began to look alarmed. “Good God, do the two of you speak your own language?”
― Julia Quinn, quote from The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever


“Every generation comes to a point where they claim the end of the world has got to be just around the corner. I was in my mid-thirties, certain and confident it was just a matter of time. Things were coming to a head: rising gas prices, increased backward leaps in racism, segregation, political angst, infringement on nearly every point of the Constitution by the president, and just an overall sense of angry people. It was hard not to read the graffiti on the walls around us. If you couldn’t see it, if you didn’t sense it, then I guess you were just a blind motherfucker living under some rock.”
― Phillip Tomasso III, quote from Vaccination


Interesting books

The Killing Game
(26.4K)
The Killing Game
by Iris Johansen
Autobiography of a Fat Bride: True Tales of a Pretend Adulthood
(8K)
Autobiography of a F...
by Laurie Notaro
Acacia: The War with the Mein
(7.9K)
Acacia: The War with...
by David Anthony Durham
The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman
(22.9K)
The 4-Hour Body: An...
by Timothy Ferriss
Solipsist
(1.3K)
Solipsist
by Henry Rollins
The Queen of Water
(2.6K)
The Queen of Water
by Laura Resau

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.