“A nation consists of its laws. A nation does not consist of its situation at a given time. If an individual’s morals are situational, that individual is without morals. If a nation’s laws are situational, that nation has no laws, and soon isn’t a nation.”

“Are you really so scared of terrorists that you’ll dismantle the structures that made America what it is? If you are, you let the terrorists win. Because that is exactly, specifically, his goal: to frighten you into surrendering the rule of law. That’s why they call him ‘terrorist.’ He uses terrifying threats to induce you to degrade your own society.”

— Spook Country, William Gibson (pg. 136-137)