Frederik Pohl Quotes

1919–2013 United States

Frederik George Pohl, Jr. (November 26, 1919 – September 2, 2013) was an award-winning science fiction writer and editor, with a career spanning over seventy-five years.

United States
Communists
Critics
Editors
Essayists

Random Frederik Pohl quote

31 quotes

Advertising reaches out to touch the fantasy part of people's lives. And you know, most people's fantasies are pretty sad.

Anybody who sets out to turn the world upside down has no right to complain if he gets caught in its gears.

The Space Merchants (1953)

Scientists are an agnostic lot, of course—well, most educated people are, aren’t they?

Platinum Pohl (2005)

It is a constant wonder to me how crazy a sane person can get.

The Coming of the Quantum Cats (1986)

Specialization is the goal of civilization.

Platinum Pohl (2005)

I don’t think you know what it’s like to have someone head over heels in love with you. What’s the good of a man who’s upside down?

Man Plus (1976)

There is no greater dark than the dark between the stars.

Heechee Rendezvous (1984)

Even money, thought Roger on the way back to his own office, is not a bad bet. Of course, it depends on the stakes.

Man Plus (1976)

A soft drink and a couple of Twinkies didn’t make a meal, but at least they informed my stomach my intentions were good.

The Coming of the Quantum Cats (1986)

Anyway, that's what life is, just one learning experience after another, and when you're through with all the learning experiences you graduate and what you get for a diploma is, you die.

Gateway (1978)

Oh, it was work and no fooling. I enjoyed it very much, because I didn’t have to do it.

Platinum Pohl (2005)

Increase of population was always good news to us. More people, more sales. Decrease of IQ was always good news to us. Less brains, more sales.

The Space Merchants (1953)

It was an appeal to reason, and they’re always dangerous. You can’t trust reason. We threw it out of the ad profession long ago and have never missed it.

The Space Merchants (1953)

Don Kayman was too good a scientist to confuse his hopes with observations. He would report what he found. But he knew what he wanted to find.

Man Plus (1976)

All of them had been so tested and retested that they had acquired considerable skill in answering test questions the way the examiners wanted them answered.

Man Plus (1976)

That’s power, Mitch, absolute power. And you know the old saying. Power ennobles. Absolute power ennobles absolutely.

The Space Merchants (1953)

I found a man who claimed he used to be a radio engineer. And if he was an engineer, I was Albert Einstein’s mother, but at least he knew which end of a soldering iron was hot.

Platinum Pohl (2005)

It was a wonder that so strange thing as a number should exist in the first place, rivalled only by the greater wonder that they should perform so obediently the work of mankind.

Drunkard's Walk (1960)

It was a nasty day in late December, just before the holidays. The weather was cold, wet, and miserable—well, I said it was London, didn’t I?

Platinum Pohl (2005)

What will come of these things? That is a fair question. Unfortunately there is no answer. Not yet. If we knew the answer in advance, we would not have to perform the experiment.

Platinum Pohl (2005)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Frederik Pohl (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.