“Given a story to enact that puts them in accord with the world, they will live in accord with the world. But given a story to enact that puts them at odds with the world … they will live at odds with the world. Given a story to enact in which they are the lords of the world, they will act like lords of the world. And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered they will conquer it like a foe, and one day inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now”

— Daniel Quinn, Ishmael