In China, the warrior was despised as a hired killer; aristocrats and commoners alike could bear swords, so there was less of a mythology about swords and their power; and obligation to family was seen as the first duty, whereas in Japan that duty was loyalty to public entities. These differences combined to produce very different histories.

— Richard Cohen, By The Sword, p. 153

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." — Arthur C. Clarke