"'...where there are enemies to bid against each other, that is where an honest trader has a chance to make a little bit profit!'"
-Poul Anderson, The Man Who Counts IN Anderson, The Van Rijn Method (Riverdale, NY, 2009), pp. 337-515 AT III, p. 363.
We might dispute his interpretation of the word "honest." Van Rijn's immediate problem is survival but he can still think about "...a little bit profit!" That man will go far.
There is more but I must be off.
4 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
My two favorites of characters Anderson created for his Technic stories: Nicholas van Rijn and Dominic Flandry. Both of them say, do, and think about matters that also makes me think. To say nothing of how often Old Nick makes me laugh!
Sean
Van Rijn's attitude is that it isn't his business to tell other people how to organize their lives; it is his business to deal with the world as he finds it.
Mr Stirling,
Although van Rijn does not tell anyone how to live, a by-product of his activities is changes to other people's life styles.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And we see how Old Nick did that very clearly in "Territory." Where we see nomads wiling to become farmers if that would get them the means needed for buying van Rijn's goods and services.
Sean
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