马文有过这么一段自白：
In the beginning I was made. I didn’t ask to be made, no one consulted me or considered my feelings in the matter. I don’t think it even occurred to them that I might have feelings, but if it brought some passing sadistic pleasure to some mentally benighted humans as they pranced their haphazard way through life’s mournful jungle then so be it. After I was made I was left in a dark room for six months, and me with this terrible pain in all the diodes down my left side. I called for succour in my loneliness, but did anyone come? Did they hell. My first and only true friend was a small rat. One day it: crawled into a cavity in my right ankle and died. I’ve a horrible feeling it’s still there . . .
刚被制造出来的时候，马文就在说它左腿的二极管的疼痛了，而经过了比宇宙本身还长三十七倍的时间后，在它生命的最后一天，在它与阿瑟相遇的时候，它是这么说的：
“丢下我，”他说，“接着走吧。丢下我在这里痛苦地挣扎。我的日子总算快到头了。我的路快走完了。我真希望，”他说，“用一根破碎的手指和它们挥手告别，——终于要结束了。很是时候。我在这里，脑容量……”
“我的每个零件，”他哀号着，“都被换了至少五十次了，……除了……”他看起来好像难以察觉地高兴了一下。他的头在他们之间晃动了一下试图回忆起来，“你记不记得，你第一次碰见我的时候，”最后他对阿瑟说，“我被派来执行那个锻炼大脑的任务，就是带你去舰桥？我跟你说过我左边所有的二极管都疼得要命？我让他们给我换换，但是一直都没换？”
“看看你能不能猜到，我哪个部分一直没被换过？来，看看你能不能猜到？”
一切都会改变，只有想要摆脱的左腿二极管的疼痛会伴随你一辈子。
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vA2vCG6WwQA这样的话，中间的笑声听起来好心酸。