82 quotes
No man has a home unless he is master of a place where he must please no one—a place where he can go and lock the door behind him.
He is not mad. He is only more clever than you. It is not the same.
The Book of the Long Sun (1993)
Until we reach the end of time, we don’t know whether something’s been good or bad; we can only judge the intentions of those who acted.
The Book of the New Sun (1980)
Here in two flat sentences are the best things I can say about our field on American television: Dr. Who is sometimes aired. Sometimes Battlestar Galactica is not.
She often spoke of marryin' a butcher or a sausage maker, having a liking for those trades, as she said, for they knew you couldn't never get all the stains from their aprons, and didn't demand it.
Every theory is true in some discipline.
The beauty of this is that it carries its own confirmation.
Nobody bothers crazy people. [...] In the end, maybe it's the crazy people who win after all.
Every so often I get optimistic and explain the best method of learning to write for students. I don't believe any of them has ever tried it.
The Best of Gene Wolfe (2009)
Perhaps I need to begin before I can think clearly about the task. The chief thing is to begin, after all—after which the chief thing is to finish.
The Book of the Short Sun (1999)
“Yours is a race of pawns,” Tzadkiel told me. “You move forward only, unless we move you back to begin the game again. But not all the pieces on the board are pawns.”
The Book of the New Sun (1980)
It will come as no surprise to those of you in the book trade when I say that although books do not cause cancer, books in general do not sell as well as cigarettes.
If you rob someone who would help you if you needed help you only rob yourself. [...] Do you imagine you can be cruel without teaching others to be cruel to you?
The Book of the Short Sun (1999)
Action, you see, is the end that thought achieves. Action is its only purpose. What else is it good for? If we don't act, it's worthless.
The Book of the Long Sun (1993)
He was proud, like all lonely men. Lonely men must be proud or die.
The Arimaspin Legacy (1987)
“I pledged myself to show you wonders.”
I drew her farther from the building. “I’m not ready to see wonders. Yours, or any other woman’s.”
The Book of the New Sun (1980)
It doesn't move because he has fastened it in place until he finds out why it doesn't move.
The Fifth Head of Cerberus", Orbit 10 (1972)
Evolution teaches us, Nicholas, that the original purpose of language was to ritualize men’s threats and curses, his spells to compel the gods; communication came later.
The gods smile on us, my son, or so it is written. It's a wonder they don't laugh aloud.
The Book of the Long Sun (1993)
“You’re a poet too, aren’t you? And a good liar, I bet.”
“I was the Autarch of Urth; that required a little lying, if you like. We called it diplomacy.”
The Book of the New Sun (1980)
One of the questions whose answers we seek is why we seek.
The Fifth Head of Cerberus", Orbit 10 (1972)