296 quotes
Remember, not all lawyers are fools!
Demon Princes (1964)
A notable scheme has occurred to me.
Lyonesse Trilogy (1983)
In measured tones he answered Madouc: “Your condition lacks dignity; you bring ridicule upon us all.”
Madouc gave a stony shrug. “If you do not like what you see, look elsewhere.”
Lyonesse Trilogy (1983)
"At Gundar we conceive 'innocence' as a positive quality, not merely an insipid absence of guilt," stated the Nolde. "We are not the fools that certain untidy ruffians might suppose."
Dying Earth (1950)
“Why does a chicken cross a road?”
“Presumably the motivations and restraints in reference to the prospective action settle into an equilibrium which prompts the motion rather than the stasis.”
The Augmented Agent and Other Stories (1986)
“It is no hardship whatever,” said Aillas. “You have never strained at the deed. Now the shoe is on the other foot, and suddenly you find the idea incredible. Do you not sense a taint of unreality?”
Lyonesse Trilogy (1983)
"Enter, my friend, enter. How goes your trade?"
"In all candor, not too well," said Cugel. "I am both perplexed and disappointed, for my talismans are not obviously useless."
Dying Earth (1950)
The cantons of Shant were alike only in their mutual distrust. Each regarded as Universal Principles its own customs, costumes, jargon, and mannerisms and considered all else eccentricity.
Durdane series (1971)
“The Iszics seem to have small understanding of intellectual curiosity,” observed Farr.
“To compensate, we have a large understanding of rapacity, larceny, brain-picking and exploitation.
Nopalgarth (1980)
The words must be spoken. The thoughts must be thought. The plans must be planned. The deeds must be done.
Alastor trilogy (1973)
“No,” said Travec, “religions, cults, rituals—forms of insanity—don’t interest me.”
The Augmented Agent and Other Stories (1986)
“Tell me, then! What is so important?”
“Your life! I could not bear that you should lose it!”
“I feel much the same. Say on.”
Lyonesse Trilogy (1983)
“I'm sure you didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”
Madoc Roswyn laughed a soft forlorn laugh. “The sad truth is that I didn’t care—which may be worse.”
Space Opera (1965)
You’re an idealist. The idealists are always the revolutionaries, the cat’s-paws. Then the realists consolidate, compromise and liquidate the opposition.
The Augmented Agent and Other Stories (1986)
Gassoon, for all his lore, subscribed to a common fallacy: he assumed that all those whom he encountered appraised him in the same terms as he did himself.
Showboat World (1975)
"When one deals with the Murthe, the unthinkable becomes the ordinary, and Zanzel's repute carries no more weight than last year's mouse-dropping - if that much."
Dying Earth (1950)
“You’re sure you want to look into these cognates? You might see things you wouldn’t like.”
“So long as I know the truth, I don’t care whether I like it or not.”
Rumfuddle (1973)
Claghorn had long insisted that no human condition endured forever, with the corollary that the more complicated such a condition, the greater its susceptibility to change.
The Last Castle (1966)
Aillas replied that while King Audry cited several points of technical interest, and used the resources of abstract logic in an adroit manner, he had actually made no connection with reality.
Lyonesse Trilogy (1983)
We are sufficiently at the mercy of machines, Roger; if our music must necessarily be mechanical, then it is time for us to throw in the sponge, and abandon all hope for the future of humanity.
Space Opera (1965)