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C. J. Cherryh Quotes

born 1942 United States

C. J.

United States
Educators
Essayists
Novelists
Science fiction authors

Also known as: Cherryh, C. J.

Random C. J. Cherryh quote

21 quotes

For me the purest and truest art in the world is science fiction.

The Collected Short Fiction of C. J. Cherryh (2004)

Things whispered here, and the trees muttered with the wind and perhaps with other things. Men knew the place was old, old as the world, and they never made peace with it.

Arafel's Saga (1983)

If you're up against a smart opponent, make him think himself to death.

Chanur's Legacy (1992)

Poisoning rarely happens in a well-managed kitchen.

Pretender (2005)

At this point I ceased argument with Lt. Goforth and shot him in the belly.

Downbelow Station (1981)

Jane leaned back against the counter and stared at the ceiling. At the traditional location of God, no matter what the planet.

Cyteen (1988)

Average people didn't analyze what they thought: they thought they thought, and half of it was gut reaction.

Invader (1995)

Men changed whatever they set hand to.

Arafel's Saga (1983)

Inevitably the party trying to resolve a matter had to contend with the party most willing to exploit it.

Invader (1995)

But they took the brightness too. It was inevitable, because that brightness was measured against that dark.

Arafel's Saga (1983)

There are certain myths that have persisted throughout the ages, and this one has remained very potent in modern culture.

The Camelot Project interview (1996)

“I frankly doubt that.”
“Ah. That is your privilege. But doubt doesn’t alter fact, sir.”

Downbelow Station (1981)

Trade isn't about goods. Trade is about information. Goods sit in the warehouse until information moves them.

Chanur's Legacy (1992)

She was a student of history, valued the lessons of it. The worst atrocities began with half-measures, with apologies, compromising with the wrong side, shrinking from what had to be done.

Downbelow Station (1981)

When the legend is retold, it mirrors the reality of the time, and one can learn from studying how various authors have attempted to retell the story.

The Camelot Project interview (1996)

Given ignorance in the mix, stupidity was at least as common in politics as astute maneuvering

Invader (1995)

If you don't understand other people in their time and why they did what they did, then you don't understand your own past. And when you lose your past, you lose some potential for your own future.

The Camelot Project interview (1996)

People ask where writers get ideas.
Take my advice. Some cool, clear night, drive to a country place where city lights don’t block your view. Turn off the car lights. Get out and look up. And see our real neighborhood.

Downbelow Station (1981)

Save one, whose patience or whose pride was more than all the rest.
So one place, one untouched place in all the world remained, a rather smallish forest near the sea and near humankind, keeping a time different than elsewhere.

Arafel's Saga (1983)

“You’ve behaved very highhandedly, Captain Mallory. Is that the custom out here?”
“The custom is, sir, that those who know a situation handle it and those who don’t watch and learn, or get out of the way.”

Downbelow Station (1981)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: C. J. Cherryh (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.