The Best Advice I Was Ever Given

Once Every Hundred Years, The Los Angeles Smog Rolls Away For A Single Night, Leaving The Air As Clean As Interstellar Space. That Way The Gods Can See If Los Angeles Is Still There. If It Is, They Roll The Smog Back So They Won't Have To Look At It.

I Never Got Good At Predicting What Millions Of People Will Suddenly Decide Is Rational.

There Had Been A Popular Joke On Freedom, Started By A Man Named Calder. Looking Down From Space, He Had Said, The Dominant Life Forms On Earth Were Obviously The Cereals And Other Grasses. They Occupied All The Most Desirable And Fertile Land; And They Had Tamed Insects And Animals To Care For Them. In Particular, They Had Domesticated The Bipeds To Nurture And Cultivate Them And To Save And Plant Their Seed. Now, Watching The Farmers, Alex Could Easily Imagine That They Were Worshiping And Genuflecting Before Their Masters.

I Am Trying To Prevent A Bloodbath. Is That Clear Enough For You? I'm Trying To Prevent A Civil War That Could Kill Half The People In This World.

The Reader Has Certain Rights. He Bought Your Story. Think Of This As An Implicit Contract. He's Entitled To Be Entertained, Instructed, Amused; Maybe All Three. If He Quits In The Middle, Or Puts The Book Down Feeling His Time Has Been Wasted, You're In Violation.