“It's not only that, Alvah. It's not you alone. If I found a job, a project, an idea or a person I
wanted--I'd have to depend on the whole world. Everything has strings leading to everything
else. We're all so tied together. We're all in a net, the net is waiting, and we're pushed into it
by one single desire. You want a thing and it's precious to you. Do you know who is standing
ready to tear it out of your hands? You can't know, it may be so involved and so far away, but
someone is ready, and you're afraid of them all. And you cringe and you crawl and you beg
and you accept them--just so they'll let you keep it. And look at whom you come to accept.”