Words&Dirt

“‘When you smoke your pipe, you feel an initial rush of stimulation, followed by a calmness, a steadying of the nerves.  This is but a trace, a shadow, of nicotine poisoning.  If you were cut with this dagger, that relaxation of the nerves would advance to the point where you would simply forget to breathe, and drown in air…every time you smoke tobacco, you are prefiguring your own death.’

‘Horrid…it makes me want to smoke something just to calm down.’

‘Mr. Hooke experimented with an herb called bhang that would cure what ails you––alas, it is harder to get.’

‘I shall make inquiries.  It is strange.  During the events, I had a clarity of mind, a sharpness of perceptions, I’d never known before.  Now, sitting here, I am terrified.’

‘As I should be, if I had just received such a tongue-lashing from the Duchess of Arcachon-Qwghlm.’

‘You could hear it this far away?’

‘I do believe that the King of France sat up in his bed at Versailles wondering what new war had broken out in Germany.’

‘It’s true, I have never seen her so angry.  She did tell me never to duel.  And I did promise.  But this––’

‘You chose the moment well,’ Daniel assured him.  ‘Physical violence is a means that I have never employed for any purpose.  The risks are enormous, and a man of my mentality, who sees dangers where they are and are not, can always find a reason to take some other course.  You are young and––’

‘Stupid?’

‘No, but less perceptive of risk.  When, God willing, you have reached the age of forty, you’ll sit up in bed in the middle of the night, covered in sweat, with the memory of this night fresh in your mind, and say, “My God, I cannot believe I once fought a duel!”  Or so I hope.’

‘Why do you hope for me to sleep poorly?’

‘Because though I have not done violence I have seen rather a lot of it.  Not all men who employ it are stupid, or evil.  Only most of them.  The rest use it reluctantly, as a way, when all else has failed, of seizing the main chance.  Thus you tonight.  Your mother will understand this and get her equilibrium back.  But like a man who imbibes tobacco-smoke, you have died a little death tonight.  I do not recommend that you become addicted to it.'”

––The System of the World, by Neal Stephenson, pg. 396-7