"The premise of the Taker story is 'the world belongs to man'. … The premise of the Leaver story is 'man belongs to the world'."
"No one species shall make the life of the world its own.' … That's one expression of the law. Here's another: 'The world was not made for any one species."
"The obvious can sometimes be illuminating when perceived in an unhabitual way."
"If you alone found out what the lie was, then you're probably right—it would make no great difference. But if you ALL found out what the lie was, it might conceivably make a very great difference indeed."
"If the world was made for us, then it BELONGS to us and we can do what we damn well please with it."
"[A]ny species that exempts itself from the rules of competition ends up destroying the community in order to support its own expansion."