Xenocide

the higher beings include more and more living things within their self-story, until at last there is no Other. Until the needs of others are more important than any private desires. The highest beings of all are the ones who are willing to pay any personal cost for the good of those who need them.” (Location 4428)

Inner strength and outward respect. These are the people who hold a community together, who lead. Unlike the sheep and the wolves, they perform a better role than the script given them by their inner fears and desires. They act out the script of decency, of self-sacrifice, of public honor—of civilization. And in the pretense, it becomes reality. There really is civilization in human history, thought Valentine, but only because of people like these. The shepherds. (Location 5088)

Even if there is no such thing as free will, we have to treat each other as if there were free will in order to live together in society. (Location 5532)

the gods would actually know what was good and have the power to cause good things to happen, even when nobody else understood that they were good. As (Location 6256)