"Even good excuses, really good ones, don't help very much. Explanations, on the other hand, are both scarce and useful. And accurate forecasts and insightful intuition are priceless."

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Individuals of the earlier species had suffered from an almost insurmountable spiritual isolation from one another. Not even lovers, and scarcely even the geniuses with special insight into personality, ever had anything like accurate vision of one another... The most precious gift that a lover could bring to the beloved was not virginity but sexual experience. The union, it was felt, was the more pregnant the more each party could contribute from previous sexual and spiritual intimacy with others.

— Olaf Stapledon