Dear Aliens, your silence puts us to shame. Please forgive us for making so much noise in this beautiful universe which we are sharing with you. Please be patient when we are impatient, be gentle when we are rough, be wise when we are stupid. We are a young species and still have much to learn. (165)

Smeed's Rule says that you can either get something done or get the credit for it, but not both. To be effective in influencing policy or in changing society, you must make sure that people in positions of power accept your ideas as their own. You can never know whether your personal influence was or was not decisive. (10)