Neal Stephenson: "Hampir semua wacana politik di masa mudaku dicurahka...

"Hampir semua wacana politik di masa mudaku dicurahkan untuk mencari tahu tentang kemunafikan ... Karena mereka orang-orang munafik, kaum Victoria dihina pada akhir abad ke-20. Banyak dari orang-orang yang berpendapat seperti itu, tentu saja, bersalah atas perilaku paling keji itu sendiri, namun tidak melihat adanya paradoks dalam memegang pandangan seperti itu karena mereka sendiri bukan orang-orang munafik — mereka tidak mengambil sikap moral dan hidup tanpa seorangpun."

--- Neal Stephenson

Versi Bahasa Inggris

Virtually all political discourse in the days of my youth was devoted to the ferreting out of hypocrisy... Because they were hypocrites, the Victorians were despised in the late twentieth century. Many of the persons who held such opinions were, of course, guilty of the most nefarious conduct themselves, and yet saw no paradox in holding such views because they were not hypocrites themselves-they took no moral stances and lived by none.