"it's a sign of our cultural collapse that suporting our vision has come to be
seen as wicked, while undermining that vision has come to be seen as noble.
for example, children in school are never encouraged to want the material
rewards of success. success is something to be sought for its own sake,
certainly not for any wealth it might bring. business leaders might be offered as
tole models because of their 'creativity' and their 'contributions to society,' but
they would never be offered as role models because they have luxurious
homes, exotic cars, and servants to attend to every need. in the world of our
children's textbooks, an admirable person would never do anything just for
money."
"yes, i suppose that's true."
"the people of our culture are tremendous bullet-biters. for those of you
who are unfamiliar with this idiom, 'biting the bullet' supposedly helps one
tolerate pain. one first tries to avoid the pain, but if the pain absolutely must be
borne, then one must 'bite the bullet.' for most who write and think about our
future, it's a foregone conclusion that we're all going to have to bite the bullet
very hard in order to survive. it doesn't occur to these thinkers and writers
that it would be far less painful to start fresh. as they view it, our task is to grit
our teeth and cling faithfully to the vision that is destroying us. as they see it,
our doom is to go on indefinitely hammering ourselves in the head with one
hand while using the other to dispense aspirin tablets for the pain."

-daniel quinn