How we cite our quotes: Chapter.Paragraph
Quote #4
And who knew what else the nudge displaced? The tap that slipped the doctor sideways could slide a truck into a crowd, topple a climber into a ravine, nudge a surgeon's blade. And for what? To postpone a single incident of death or suffering because one face in ten billion had caught his eye? Was he the only one who found this situation intolerable? (28.18)
With these kinds of odds, it's a miracle any of us survive to old age. The question is, is it better for Mr. B to try to fix things—or will we just end up making things worse?
Quote #5
"It's really tragic, all this peculiar weather," Lucy said as they left the zoo together. She stopped to stare at a ruined stroller, overturned in a puddle. "So many lives messed up." They walked in silence for a moment. "I heard on the news that the death toll is in the thousands." Bob shoved his hands in his pockets and looked away. "It's not my fault," he muttered. (29.54)
Um. Correct us if we're wrong, but isn't it Bob himself who attached the weather to his emotions? And doesn't that make it entirely his fault?
Quote #6
Bob rolled his eyes. Sick, starving, it was all the same. He couldn't see what the big deal was. Any observer with half a brain knew that there'd always been an underclass—serfs, slaves, untouchables—and, furthermore, that they probably deserved their horrible fates. (33.25)
Okay, major problemo. If we just accept that suffering is a fact of life, then there's no reason to try to fix anyone. Someone dying on the street? Eh. Can't fix it, might as well not try. That's not much a way to run a world, in our opinion.