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If one would praise the Almighty, one must then revel in His works, and take them whole, adore their very grossness, savor the oozing quiddity of that slime of which He seems to be inordinately fond. Love is not nice. God's love assuredly is not; and human love, its copy, must not presume to be so.Eric Frank Russell
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Inside, Harrison came face to face witha small man wearing immense plus fours.“ Looking for someone?” asked the small man.“ Yes, the fire chief.”“ Who’s he?” By now prepared for this sort of thing, Harrisonspoke as one would to a child. “See here, Mister, thisis a fire-fighting outfit. Somebody bosses it. Somebodyorganizes the whole affair, fills forms, pressesbuttons, shouts orders, recommends promotions, kicks the shiftless, grabs all the credit, transfers allthe blame and generally lords it around. He’s themost important man in the bunch and everybodyknows it.” His forefinger tapped imperatively on theother’s chest. “And he is the fellow I’m going to talkto if it’s the last thing I do.”“ Nobody is more important than anyone else. How can he be? I think you’re crazy.”“ You’re welcome to think what you please but Iam telling you that–.” A shrill bell clamoured, cutting off his sentence. .Eric Frank Russell
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How can trade be bad if you don’t make moneyeven when it’s good?” inquired Gleed, reasonablyapplying the information Harrison had given him. Jeff’s big moon eyes went over him slowly thenturned to Harrison. “So he’s another bum off yourboat, eh? What’s he talking about?”“ Money, ” explained Harrison. “It’s stuff we use tosimplify trade. It’s printed stuff, like documentaryobs of various sizes.”“ That tells me a lot, ” Jeff Baines observed. “Ittells a crowd that has to make a printed record ofevery ob is not to be trusted – because they don’teven trust each other.Eric Frank Russell