“The selective voluntary blindness of human beings allows them to ignore the moral consequences of their choices. It has been one of the species' most valuable traits, in terms of the survival of any particular human community.”

“I had no idea we planned to be so ruthless.""It was not publicized or even discussed with the political arm of the colonization program. Ruthlessness was necessary but wins no votes.""But this is not our world, to treat however we want!""Visiting here as students of an alien evolutionary tradition would not be either cost-effective or, ultimately, successful. We would inevitably contaminate Garden, or worse yet, become contaminated and bring potentially deadly Gardenian life forms back to Earth. The three continental preserves will be sufficient to allow biologists to study alien life at some point in the future. And if you really thought we would colonize this world without making it 'ours', you'd be far too naive to command this expedition.""I...didn't realize...""You didn't think about it at all," said the expendable. "The selective voluntary blindness of human beings allows them to ignore the moral consequences of their choices. It has been one of the species' most valuable traits, in terms of the survival of any particular human community.""And you aren't morally blind?""We see the moral ironies very clearly. We simply don't care.”

“The law of evolution is that the strongest survives!' 'Yes, and the strongest, in the existence of any social species, are those who are most social. In human terms, most ethical...There is no strength to be gained from hurting one another. Only weakness.”

“If we want our species to survive in the long term, human beings cannot afford to stop reaching for the stars.”

“...human beings are a species splendid in their array of moral equipment, tragic in their propensity to misuse it, and pathetic in their ignorance of the misuse.”

“People have always wanted to 'improve' human beings; for the most part, this has been called morality.”