The Moon is a Harsh Mistress Violence Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #7

Civil Defense team went ahead, completed temporary lock, tested it with helmets closed; it held—came out, grabbed this joker, took him through into temporary lock and on out into zero pressure, dumped him.

Belittlers kept opinions to selves after that. (14.122-23)

Oh, man. You can be killed on Luna for heckling and no one thinks that's out of proportion. Bad news for hecklers ,but good news for stand-up comedians.

Quote #8

All that immigration in huge numbers could mean would be that a larger percentage of immigrants would die—too few of us to help them past natural hazards. (18.56)

Going back to the idea that violence is the ultimate teacher on Luna. In this case, we see that it's the environment that leads to this custom of violence. The human body did not evolve to live on the Moon but on Earth; they haven't exactly mastered the art of not breathing yet.

Quote #9

One p-suited man with gun looks like another; I suppose they took me for one of their flankers. And to me they looked no different from Finn's man, at that distance—save that I never thought about it. A new chum doesn't move way a cobber does; he moves feet too high and always scrambling for traction. Not that I stopped to analyze, not even: "Earthworms! Kill!" Saw them, burned them. (23.44)

Friendly fire occurs when soldiers attack friendly forces during a battle. It usually results from misidentifying allies and is all too common in the chaos of war. This is a very serious issue when considering war and its affects, but unfortunately, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress skirts around the issue. This passage serves as its Get Out of Difficult Conversation Free card.