Dale Easley's Favorite Quotations
| The Prize |
| Yergin, Daniel |
| Over almost a century and a half, oil has brought out both the best and worst of our civilization. It has been both boon and burden. Energy is the basis of industrial society. And of all energy sources, it has loomed the largest and the most problematic because of its central role, its strategic character, its geographic distribution, the recurrent pattern of crisis in its supply--- and the inevitable and irresistible temptation to grasp for its rewards. It will be remarkable if we reach the end of this century without the preeminence of oil being tested or challenged again by political, technical, economic, or environmental crises--- perhaps foreseen, perhaps coming by surprise. Nothing less should be expected in a century that has been so profoundly shaped and affected by oil. Its history has been a panorama of triumphs and a litany of tragic and costly mistakes. It has been a theater for the noble and the base in the human character. Creativity, dedication, entrepreneurship, ingenuity, and technical innovation have coexisted with avarice, corruption, blind political ambition, and brute force. Oil has helped to make possible mastery over the physical world. It has given us our daily life and, literally, through agricultural chemicals and transportation, our daily bread. It has also fueled the global struggles for political and economic primacy. Much blood has been spilled in its name. The fierce and sometimes violent quest for oil--- and for the riches and power it conveys--- will surely continue so long as oil holds a central place. For ours is a century in which every facet of our civilization has been transformed by the modern and mesmerizing alchemy of petroleum. Ours truly remains the age of oil. [pp.780-781] |