A Better Touchstone

“‘Man,’ he said, then left a long pause, letting scorn build up in the cave like the venom in his breath. ‘I can see you understand them. Counters, measurers, theory-makers. All pigs eat cheese. Old Snaggle is a pig. If Snaggle is sick and refuses to eat, try cheese. Games, games, games!’ He snorted fire. ‘They only think they think. No total vision, total system merely schemes with a vague family resemblance, no more identity than bridges and say, spiderwebs. But they rush across chasms on spiderwebs, and sometimes they make it, and that, they think, settles that!'”

Grendel, John Gardner