Quotes

I really enjoyed Brave New World and dog-eared several pages as well as underlined several quotes. I want to post them here and show the ones that stood out the most to me. What were some quotes from the two books that you thought stood out or meant something more?

"'They never learn,' said the green-uniformed pilot, pointing down at the skeletons on the ground below them.’And they never will learn,' he added and laughed as though he had somehow scored a personal triumph over the electrocuted animals." (105)
When I read about the electric fence that surrounds the reservation and he said "they never learn" I thought about how even though he was referring to the animals, how the savages on the reservation could also "never learn" in his opinion. I thought it was funny how the animals were constantly trying to get free however. Metaphorically, could it mean that the spirit that makes us want to be free will never die out?

"'Actual happiness always looks pretty squalid in comparison with the overcompensations for misery. And, of course, stability isn't nearly so spectacular as instability. And being contented has none of the glamour of a good fight against misfortune, none of the picturesqueness of a struggle with temptation, or a fatal overthrow by passion or doubt. Happiness is never grand.'" (221)
When I read this I figured Huxley had made a good point: that perpetual happiness is never as good as the transition from bad times to better.

"Christianity without tears--that's what soma is." (238) This stood out to me because friends have told me before that religion is just used to control the public in to doing what they want and that it is meant to restrain and satisfy public needs. This is exactly the same thing soma does, and as John shows it does not lack tears.

"'All right then,' said the Savage defiantly, 'I'm claiming the right to be unhappy.'" (240) Claiming the right to be unhappy is something you would never expect to hear. But claiming the right to be happy, if someone was not allowing you to, seems logical. Does claiming the right to be unhappy make just as much sense? If you were in a place where you were perpetually happy, would you claim the right to be unhappy?

"Pain was a fascinating horror." (258) We all seem to stop and stare whenever a crash occurs on the freeway and listen extra closely when a terrible event on the news occurs. Huxley points out the interest in other peoples pain in the very end of Brave New World. Are any of you "fascinated" or do you think it is horrible that people are so interested?