Think we're important?

For all our conceits about being the center of the universe, we live in a
routine planet of a humdrum star stuck away in an obscure corner … on an
unexceptional galaxy which is one of about 100 billion galaxies. … That
is the fundamental fact of the universe we inhabit, and it is very good for
us to understand that.

• Carl Sagan, astronomer and writer (1934-1996)

Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts… perhaps the fear of a loss of power.

• John Steinbeck, novelist, Nobel laureate (1902-1968)