Space is a never-ending race track. The thermal shock region on the prow of our solar system, for example, is screaming through the heavens at 490,000 miles an hour. Earth is hurtling round the sun at 67,000 miles an hour. God, it seems, is a complete speed freak. – Top Gear, series 16, episode 6

The civilized man has built a coach, but has lost the use of his feet. – Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance,” 1841