"Reverence For Life"
Ruling through "toolmen" - human collaborators who are either computer controlled or who have been raised to accept the Shing as benign human lords, the only truth that the Shing seem to accept is the law of preservation of life. They appear as pathological liars, though Falk, the Alterran leading character of City of Illusions, comes to conclude that "the essence of their lying was a profound, irredemiable lack of understanding" of the peoples that they have conquered. Shing character, culture, architecture and even clothing is ambiguous and illusory.
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Famous quotes containing the words reverence for, reverence and/or life:
“Let reverence for the laws, be breathed by every American mother, to the lisping babe, that prattles on her lap—let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges;Mlet it be written in Primers, spelling books, and in Almanacs;Mlet it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“Q. If you find so much that is unworthy of reverence in the United States, then why do you live here?
A. Why do men go to zoos?”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
“That way of life against which my generation rebelled had given us grim courage, fortitude, self-discipline, a sense of individual responsibility, and a capacity for relentless hard work.”
—Rose Wilder Lane (1886–1968)