"Nothing is more important than that you see and love the beauty that is right in front of you, or else you will have no defense against the ugliness that will hem you in and come at you in so many ways."
Fraa Orolo is a respected teacher, Raz's favorite. He is a man dedicated to peace. Through commitment to beauty, he says, man can guard against ugliness. If a man is rooted in the goodness and beautiful parts of life, then he will remain true to those characteristics when faced with the evil and ugliness of lesser men.
"'I guess that people like to think they are not only living but propagating their way of life.'
'That's right. People have a need to feel that they are part of some sustainable project. Something that will go on without them. It creates a feeling of stability. I believe that the need for that kind of stability is as basic and as desperate as some of the other, more obvious needs. But there's more than one way to get it.'"
These two men muse about the nature of sentience. People want to believe that they are a part of a greater existence, that their lives have future meaning and permanence. According to Orolo and Raz, these beliefs are necessary, just like food and water. People just have to be creative as to how they fulfill these needs.
"'Do you need transportation? Tools? Stuff?'
'Our opponent is an alien starship packed with atomic bombs. We have a protractor.'
'Okay, I'll go home and see if I can scrounge up a ruler and a piece of string.'
'That'd be great.'"
Erasmas and his companions are facing an opponent of epic proportions. Because of the technological restrictions upon the avant, they are forced to be creative about how they approach this alien enemy. In this quotation Raz jokes about the unbelievably uneven technology which he has to combat the aliens. Cord, however, has perfect faith that they will succeed. He heads home for a ruler and string to add to Raz's protractor, confident that those simple tools will be sufficient for victory, along with intellect.
"But in that we started so many things in that moment, we brought to their ends many others that have been the subject matter of this account, and so here is where I draw a line across the leaf and call it the end."
This is Raz's final line of narration in the book. He sums up all the glimmering memories which he possess of alternate universes. Each of those parallels has been brought to an end, just as they were begun. He could continue on and on discussing each thread of reality, but he chooses to end the narration where he does in order to demonstrate that each parallel reality is equally final.
