“I had formerly explained to myself that such an exclusively abnormal inherency in their psyche is not self-acquired by the beings of the given epoch, but I understood that this terrifying periodic being-need was acquired and gradually assimilated by them during the course of very many of their centuries, also, of course, thanks to the abnormal conditions of existence established by the beings of past generations, and that this being-need had already become finally inherent in the contemporary three-brained beings, owing to external circumstances not depending upon them, and that it had become inevitably proper to them to occupy themselves with this. BTG XXXI

“This is why, when these contemporary favorites of yours already become responsible beings, everything newly seen and newly heard is perceived by them of its own accord automatically without the participation of any effort whatsoever on the part of their essence-functions, and without at all evoking in them, as I have already said, the being-need itself of sensing and understanding everything proceeding within them as well as without. BTG XXXVII

“I remember very clearly one of those periods when the beings of that time, who, by the way, according to the notions of your contemporary favorites, were nothing but ancient ‘savages’, invented every possible kind of convenience for performing this same although prosaic yet indispensable being-need, on account of which these contemporary Americans, who in their naivete consider themselves already civilized to the ne plus ultra, have invented these comfortable seats in their water closets. BTG XLII

“The beings of the Tikliamishian civilization invented a certain kind of ‘comfortable couch bed’ which could be used for sleeping as well as for what is called ‘lounging’ so that while lying on this ‘wonderful contrivance’, and without manifesting the slightest being-effort whatsoever, they could perform this same inevitable being-need for which the contemporary beings of the continent America have invented their ‘seats of ease’. BTG XLII

“Even quite recently on this same continent Asia, certain beings again attempted not only to find a method by which it might indeed be possible to preserve their edible products for a long time without deterioration, but they even tried to find some entirely new means for minimizing as much as possible the time spent on this inevitable being-need of feeding on the first-food; and this time they were almost on the verge of discovering a very suitable method for this purpose. BTG XLII