This is always the problem with building heroes. To keep them pure, we must build them stupid. The world is built on compromise and uncertainty, and such a place is too complex for heroes to flourish. Bernard Beckett More Quotes by Bernard Beckett More Quotes From Bernard Beckett I try not to be surprised. Surprise is the public face of a mind that has been closed. Bernard Beckett mind faces trying The only thing binding individuals together is ideas. Ideas mutate and spread; they change their hosts as much as their hosts change them. Bernard Beckett host together ideas Many scholars have complained of our tendency to see history only in conflicts, but I am not convinced they are right. It is in conflict that our values are exposed. Bernard Beckett tendencies conflict history I cannot choose to ignore this feeling, of life slowly bleeding out of me. I cannot ignore the fact that life only makes sense to me when I see a smile, or feel another hand in mine. Bernard Beckett bleeding feelings hands In the end, living is defined by dying. Book-ended by oblivion, we are caught in the vice of terror, squeezed to bursting by the approaching end. Fear is ever-present, waiting to be called to the surface. Change brought fear, and fear brought destruction. Bernard Beckett dying waiting book Thought, like any parasite, cannot exist without a compliant host. Bernard Beckett parasites host In the end, living is defined by dying. Bernard Beckett dying ends death I just love the idea that people disappear into the story for a while. You grab a book, and you want to get back to it, and your life becomes a bit of an interruption. I would love readers to feel like that. Bernard Beckett book people ideas Consciousness is the feel of accessing memory. Bernard Beckett consciousness feels memories Human spirit is the ability to face the uncertainty of the future with curiosity and optimism. Bernard Beckett optimism superstitions curiosity Unable to attribute misfortune to chance, unable to accept their ultimate insignificance within the greater scheme, the people looked for monsters in their midst. Bernard Beckett fear monsters people Are you saying a society wracked by plague is preferable to one wracked by indifference? Bernard Beckett plague indifference ... from our vantage point it is now clear that the only thing the population had to fear was fear itself. Bernard Beckett vantage-point population fear A society that fears knowledge is a society that fears itself. Bernard Beckett knowledge The more the media peddled fear, the more the people lost the ability to believe in one another. For every new ill that befell them, the media created an explanation, and the explanation always had a face and a name. The people came to fear even their closest neighbors. At the level of the individual, the community, and the nation, people sought signs of others’ ill intentions; and everywhere they looked, they found them, for this is what looking does. Bernard Beckett media names believe In this environment it was a simple matter for The Republic to maintain its structure. People did as they were told because they were working together, focused on a common threat, a shared enemy. But time passes. Fear becomes a memory. Terror becomes routine; it loses its grip. Bernard Beckett time-passes routine memories Which came first, the mind or the idea of the mind? Have you never wondered? They arrived together. The mind is an idea. Bernard Beckett mind together ideas Sometimes, even the very best course of action fails. Bernard Beckett failing action sometimes Science is a little bit more than a wonderful way of modelling and predicting; its a wonderful technical abstraction. I think science is a really wonderful technical abstraction. Bernard Beckett littles way thinking Superstition is the need to view the world in terms of simple cause and effect. Bernard Beckett simple views needs
