Every year we pass more laws, hire more police, build more prisons, and sentence more offenders for longer periods--all without moving one inch closer to "ending" crime. It didn't work last year or the year before that or the year before that or the year before that, but you can be sure we'll try it again this year, knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that it won't work this year either.

Beyond Civilization

"Man lived harmlessly on this planet for some three million years, but the Takers have brought the whole thing to the point of collapse in only five hundred generations. And their explanation for this is what?"

"I see what you mean. Their explanation is that something is fundamentally wrong with people."

"Not that you Takers may be doing something wrong but rather that there is something fundamentally wrong with human nature itself."

"That's right."

"How do you like that explanation now?"

"I'm beginning to have my doubts about it."

Ishmael