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Book: The Confusion
Quotes of Book: The Confusion
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  1. Neal Stephenson _ The Confusion

    We say of some Nations, the People are lazy, but we should say only, they are poor; Poverty is the Fountain of all Manner of Idleness. -DANIEL DEFOE, A Plan of the English Commerce
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  2. Neal Stephenson _ The Confusion

    I have let you live, but for one purpose only: so that you can make your way back to Paris and tell them the following: that the deed you are about to witness was done for a woman, whose name I will not say, for she knows who she is; and that it was done by 'Half-Cocked' Jack Shaftoe, L'Emmerdeur, the King of the Vagabonds, Ali Zaybak: Quicksilver!
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  3. Neal Stephenson _ The Confusion

    What else can you tell us about this batna, Surendranath?" "I learnt it from English traders in Surat," said the befuddled Surendranath, "It stands for Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement.
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  4. Neal Stephenson _ The Confusion

    Versailles has only existed for seven years. It does not have any ancient traditions. It was made by Colbert, the commoner. It is full of nobles, true; but you fool yourself if you believe that they feel comfortable there - feel as if they belong. No, it is you, mademoiselle, who are the perfect courtier of Versailles, you whom the others shall envy, once you go there and establish yourself. My father feels himself slipping down, sees his family losing its wealth, its influence. He throws a rope up, hoping that someone on higher and firmer ground will snatch it out of the air and pull him to safety - and that someone is you, mademoiselle."
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  5. Neal Stephenson _ The Confusion

    Perception and thought are properties of souls. It is no worse to posit that the fundamental building-block of the Universe is souls than to say it is wee bits of hard stuff, moving about in an empty space that is pervaded by mystickal Fields.
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  6. Neal Stephenson _ The Confusion

    For every human being who is born into this universe is like a child who has been given a key to an infinite Library, written in cyphers that are more or less obscure, arranged by a scheme - of which we can at first know nothing, other than that there does appear to be some scheme - pervaded by a vapor, a spirit, a fragrance that reminds us that it was the work of our Father. Which does us no good whatever, other than to remind us, when we despair, that there is an underlying logic about it, that was understood once and can be understood again.
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  7. Neal Stephenson _ The Confusion

    and people could only make sense of complicated matters through stories. Likewise
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  8. Neal Stephenson _ The Confusion

    When a thing such as wax, or gold, or silver, turns liquid from heat, we say that it has fused," Eliza said to her son, "and when such liquids run together and mix, we say they are con-fused." "Papa says I am confused sometimes." "As are we all," said Eliza. "For confusion is a kind of bewitchment-
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  9. Neal Stephenson _ The Confusion

    Investors who dictate terms are common as the air, Jack," Enoch said. "This is a different matter altogether. You are not borrowing capital from an investor in exchange for specific terms. You are entering into a relationship with a woman. Certain things will simply be expected of you. I cannot even begin to guess what. If you and your partners fail to act as gentlemen should, you will incur the lady's displeasure. Is that specific enough? Is it clear?" "It is neither.
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  10. Neal Stephenson _ The Confusion

    Indeed, cousine, I should rather you were a sincere Satanist than a pretend one; for the former recognizes God's majesty, and may be reformed, while the latter is an atheist, and doomed to the Lake of Fire.
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  11. Neal Stephenson _ The Confusion

    Men sailed jachts across the sea and gave them to her, just to get her attention. And so perhaps her fires had been banked by choice; she'd had the sound judgment to know when to draw back, and let her investments and her children grow, and her plans come to fruition. Daniel
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  12. Neal Stephenson _ The Confusion

    us-I looked at that beautiful snow-capped mountain and named it Eliza. Because it was warm, fertile, and beautiful below, while being a bit frosty and inaccessible at the top-yet possessing a volcanick profile foretelling explosions-"
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