"Regard this piece of ice, mighty Frost. You can tell me its composition, dimensions, weight, temperature. A Man could not look at it and do that. A Man could make tool which would tell Him these things,but He still would not _know_ measurement as you know it. What He would know of it, though, is a thing that you cannot know."
"What is that?"
"That it is cold," said Mordel and tossed it away.
"'Cold' is a relative term."
"Yes. Relative to Man."
Context: In For a Breath I Tarry, the machine Frost wishes to become human, and Mordel , servant of Divcom, seeks to illustrate why the quest is impossible.
Why I like it: In a story with so many memorable passages ( "You are aware that you would be forced to keep your end of the bargain even if you did not wish to; and Solcom would not come to your assistance because of the fact that you dared to make such a bargain." "Do you speak as one who considers this to be a possibility, or as one who knows?" "As one who knows."), I love it because it so poignantly illustrates Frost's quest to become human.
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