Those voice-acted quotes after you finished research or build your first building of given kind are little gems that stay with you for decades.
"The Academician’s private residences shall remain off-limits to
the Genetic Inspectors. We possess no retroviral capability,
we are not researching retroviral engineering, and we shall not
allow this Council to violate faction privileges in the name of this
ridiculous witch hunt!”
—Fedor Petrov,
Vice Provost for University Affairs
... spoken with official, assertive voice right after you completed research on "Retroviral Engineering".
"Some would ask, how could a perfect God create a universe filled with so much that is evil. They have missed a greater conundrum: why would a perfect God create a universe at all?"
--Sister Miriam Godwinson, "But for the Grace of God"
And when at last it is time for the transition from megacorporation to planetary government, from entrepreneur to emperor, it is then that the true genius of our strategy shall become apparent, for energy is the lifeblood of this society and when the chips are down he who controls the energy supply controls Planet. In former times the energy monopoly was called "The Power Company"; we intend to give this name an entirely new meaning.
-- CEO Nwabudike Morgan, "The Centauri Monopoly"
I recently read the book about Enron and kept thinking about this quote when it came to their lobbying efforts. "Power company" indeed.
I like the one that’s the riff off Microsoft’s 90s campaign “where do you want to go today?” while mocking Microsoft’s defense of its monopoly conviction.
“Of course we'll bundle our MorganNet software with the new network nodes! Our customers expect no less of us. We have never sought to become a monopoly. Our products are simply so good that no one feels the need to compete with us. --Where do you want your Node today?”
CEO Nwabudike Morgan, Morgan Data Systems press release
I can recite a few of these from memory, because you just hear them so often...
Some of the most meaningful to me were the ones coming from a place of spiritual philosophy. I am absolutely not a religious man, nor would I consider myself to be even remotely spiritual or superstitious. That said, there is a sort of poetic beauty through the concept of a deity as a storytelling mechanism, or a way to put a complex philosophy into a memorable narrative.
"Companions, the creator seeks, and not corpses, nor herds or believers. Fellow creators the creator seeks-- those who inscribe new values on new tablets. Companions the creator seeks, and fellow harvesters; for everything about him is ripe for the harvest. ... Fellow creators, Zarathustra seeks, fellow harvesters and celebrants... What are herds and shepherds and corpses to him!" (this quote is is often shortened, but this adaptation is the most meaningful to me)
"Men, in their arrogance claim to understand the nature of creation, and devise elaborate theories to describe its behavior. But they always discover in the end that God was quite a bit more clever than they thought."
I'm not a religious man, but I do identify with the visceral rejection of humanity's collective hubris.
and of course, hearing 'Eternity lies ahead, and behind. Have you drunk your fill?' some 20x per game really cements that phrase into my head.
I frequently play as Zakharov, and I like his quotes, but they're always rambling and difficult to recall in the moment.
That said, anyone playing as University would always make the Hunter-Seeker Algorithm a top priority. Fusion power and orbital spaceflight follow soon after, and that's the game. I usually go after Yang, then the Believers. Pretty formulaic at this point, but I enjoy it about as much, perhaps maybe even more, than Beyond Earth. SMAC just has so much character to it.
Scientist: "All models are wrong, some are useful."
Fiction Writer: "Oh, the arrogance of man, to believe he understands nature!"
There's no hubris like the hubris of a science fiction writer claiming that the plot they cooked up for the express purpose of entertainment implies something deep about the actual risk profile of future technological development. Scientists trudge through a swamp of unknowns every day. That's their job. The idea of a scientist who thinks they know everything is as crazy as the idea of a programmer who thinks that all software is perfect and bug-free.
Fortunately, Alpha Centauri also provides material for those who enjoy a healthy dash of ambition here and there:
"I plan to live forever, of course, but barring that I'd settle for a couple thousand years. Even five hundred would be pretty nice."
You seem to be responding to a Michael Crichton type doomsday situation, when that quote comes out of the mouth of a religious fundamentalist character, who doesn't even say it in a doomsaying way so much as chastising in a memento mori sort of way.
Then perhaps I should clarify: the Alpha Centauri character Sister Miriam Godwinson is no fiction writer, at least not in this world, her spiel just reminds me of one.
One of my favourite quotes of all time quotes comes from this game.
"Once a man has changed the relationship between himself and his environment, he cannot return to the blissful ignorance he left. Motion, of necessity, involves a change in perspective."
- Chairman Pravin Lal
Maybe it was because I was young at the time, I dunno, it just really stuck with me.
Something you almost never hear as University, especially if you don't go around conquering your rivals on, say, a massive planet. Science victory, ftw. Definitely get that Hunter-Seeker Algorithm, tho. It's very worth it :3
"The Academician’s private residences shall remain off-limits to the Genetic Inspectors. We possess no retroviral capability, we are not researching retroviral engineering, and we shall not allow this Council to violate faction privileges in the name of this ridiculous witch hunt!”
—Fedor Petrov, Vice Provost for University Affairs
... spoken with official, assertive voice right after you completed research on "Retroviral Engineering".