Notes
It’s hard to decide who’s truly brilliant; it’s easier to see who’s driven, which in the long run may be more important.
“The purpose of life,” Munro said, “is to stay alive. Watch any animal in nature—all it tries to do is stay alive. It doesn’t care about beliefs or philosophy. Whenever any animal’s behavior puts it out of touch with the realities of its existence, it becomes extinct.
Today we are surrounded by man and his creations. Man is inescapable, everywhere on the globe, and nature is a fantasy, a dream of the past, long gone.
“S.D.T.A.G.W.” It stood for “Some Damn Thing Always Goes Wrong.”
But Amy’s behavior seemed to indicate that she conceived of the past as in front of her—because she could see it—and the future behind her—because it was still invisible.
His management philosophy, tempered in his rain-dancing days, was always to give the project to whoever had the most to gain from success—or the most to lose from failure.
This widespread destruction had caused some alarm Ross did not share. She doubted that the world climate would change or the atmospheric oxygen be reduced. Ross was not an alarmist, and not impressed by the calculations of those who were.
Ross glared at him. “Studies show,” she said, “that the single greatest factor limiting work efficiency is ambient temperature, with sleep deprivation as the second factor.”
Whenever gorillas did not feel comfortable with direct aggression, they did something symbolic. In symbolic terms, she was now tearing Karen Ross apart.
You can’t stop technological advances. As soon as we know something is possible, we have to carry it out.”