Poul Anderson Quote

Do you actually hope to convert the whole of mankind?
Belay that! Anyhow, if you mean, Do we hope to make everybody into copies of us? The answer is, No. Mind, I'm not in Parliament or Admiralty, but I follow debates and I read the philosophers. One trouble with the old machine culture was that, by its nature, it did force people to become more and more alike. Not only did this fail in the end—disastrously—but to the extent it succeeded, it was a worse disaster. Lohannaso smote the rail with a mighty fist. Damnation, Thomas! We need all the diversity, all the assorted ways of living and looking and thinking, we can get!

Chapter 11 (p. 119) - There Will Be Time (1972)