📓On Literature: On Signs (From Fiction to Science-Fiction)

"Forgiveness is better than revenge, for forgiveness is the sign of a gentle nature, but revenge is the sign of a savage nature. the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace." (Epictetus) [attributed] 

"And above all you ought to guard against leading an army to fight which is afraid or which is not confident of victory. For the greatest sign of an impending loss is when one does not believe one can win." (Niccolò Machiavelli, "The Art of War and the Prince", 

"Each of us is full of too many wheels, screws and valves to permit us to judge one another on a first impression or by two or three external signs." (Anton Chekhov, "Ivanov", 1887)

"Every word to which he had listened surfeited him with a sense of the immobility of humanity. Each individual related a cosmic circumstance to his particular case. Each individual planned to act independently not only of the rest of his fellows but of all signs and portents in the sky. Tony’s mind conceived a picture of huge cities on the verge of inundation - cities in which thousands and even millions refused to budge and went about the infinitesimal affairs of their little lives selfishly, with nothing but resentment for the facts which wiser men were futilely attempting to impress upon them." (Edwin Balmer & Philip Wylie, "When Worlds Collide", 1932)

"It gave him a strange feeling to see the wrist and leg sliced open, the chest exposed - but no bleeding. There was something wild and inhuman about that. As if bleeding were a sign of humanity. Well, he thought, perhaps it is. Perhaps the fact that we bleed to death makes us human." (Michael Crichton, "The Andromeda Strain", 1969)

"Sometimes one must try anything, he decided. It is no disgrace. On thecontrary, it is a sign of wisdom, of recognizing the situation." (Philip K Dick, "The Man in the High Castle", 1962)

"True learning must not be content with ideas, which are, in fact, signs, but must discover things in their individual truth." (Umberto Eco, "Name of the Rose", 1995)

"Believing oneself to be perfect is often the sign of a delusional mind." (Brannon Braga & Ronald D Moore, "Star Trek: First Contact", [film] 1996)