" 'We - by whom I mean anyone over sixty - commit two offences just by existing. Once is Lack of Velocity. We drive too slowly, walk too slowly, talk too slowly. The world will do business with dictators, perverts, and drug barons of all stripes, but being slowed down it cannot abide. Our second offence is being Everyman's memento mori. The world can only get comfy in shiny-eyed denial if we are out of sight." - Veronica Costello in Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell