Laser technology has fulfilled our people's ancient dream of a blade so fine that the person it cuts remains standing and alive until he moves and cleaves. Until we move, none of us can be sure that we have not already been cut in half, or in many pieces, by a blade of light. It is safest to assume that our throats have already been slit, that the slightest alteration in our postures will cause the painless severance of our heads. Ben Lerner
About This Quote

The people of the world – and of the United States – have long yearned for an invisible sword with which we can sever ourselves from the world we know. We have never been afraid to dream of such a thing, and now that it has come to pass, there is no need to conceal our pleasure. This is a weapon that not only cuts down the enemy but also makes certain that none of us is wounded. It is a weapon that is silent.

It does not cry out for vengeance. It leaves no scars on the body of the one who wields it.

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More Quotes By Ben Lerner
  1. Laser technology has fulfilled our people's ancient dream of a blade so fine that the person it cuts remains standing and alive until he moves and cleaves. Until we move, none of us can be sure that we have not already been cut in half,...
  2. Our contempt for any particular poem must be perfect, be total, because only a ruthless reading that allows us to measure the gap between the actual and the virtual will enable to to experience, if not a genuine poem–no such thing–a place for the genuine,...
  3. Poetry arises from the desire to get beyond the finite and the historical–the human world of violence and difference–and to reach the transcendent or divine. You're moved to write a poem, you feel called upon to sing, because of that transcendent impulse. But as soon...
  4. Since the world is ending, ” Peter quoted from behind us, “why not let the children touch the paintings?
  5. I believe she imbued my body thus, finding every touch enhanced by ambiguity of intention, as if it too required translation, and so each touch branched out, became a variety of touches.
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