Meander with me . . .

Today is the birthday of John Michael Crichton (October 23, 1942 – November 4, 2008), author, producer, director, and screenwriter. Best known as Michael Crichton, his books have sold over 150 million copies worldwide.

"It's better to die laughing than to live each moment in fear."
- Michael Crichton

"What makes you think human beings are sentient and aware? There's no evidence for it. Human beings never think for themselves, they find it too uncomfortable. For the most part, members of our species simply repeat what they are told-and become upset if they are exposed to any different view. The characteristic human trait is not awareness but conformity, and the characteristic result is religious warfare. Other animals fight for territory or food; but, uniquely in the animal kingdom, human beings fight for their 'beliefs.' The reason is that beliefs guide behavior which has evolutionary importance among human beings. But at a time when our behavior may well lead us to extinction, I see no reason to assume we have any awareness at all. We are stubborn, self-destructive conformists. Any other view of our species is just a self-congratulatory delusion. Next question."
- Michael Crichton

"This is the gift of your species and this is the danger, because you do not choose to control your imaginings. You imagine wonderful things and you imagine terrible things, and you take no responsibility for the choice. You say you have inside you both the power of good and the power of evil, the angel and the devil, but in truth you have just one thing inside you - the ability to imagine."
- Michael Crichton

"If you don't know history, then you don't know anything. You are a leaf that doesn't know it is part of a tree. "
- Michael Crichton

"Reality is always greater — much greater — than what we know, than whatever we can say about it."
- Michael Crichton

"I am certain there is too much certainty in the world."
- Michael Crichton

"It takes enormous effort to avoid all theories and just see."
- Michael Crichton

"No one escapes from life alive."
- Michael Crichton

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