296 quotes
“I wonder, sir, if you’d be good enough to advise me.”
“Certainly, within the limits of discretion,” said Eubanq. “I should warn you, however, that free advice is usually not worth its cost.”
Alastor trilogy (1973)
“Perhaps you can advise us on the lottery,” suggested Schaine.
“Gladly,” said Elvo Glissam. “Invest your money elsewhere.”
The Gray Prince (1975)
The big man’s scowl deepened. “You’re not what I expected.”
“Intelligence, facility, resourcefulness are not like neckties, to be displayed as ornaments,” Magnus Ridolph pointed out.
The Many Worlds of Magnus Ridolph (1966)
She watched with an expression—quizzical, unhuman. Mario wondered, how can beauty be refined to such to such reckless heights, and still be so cold and friendless? If she were wounded, would she bleed?
The Narrow Land (1982)
It was right and proper to exploit the excellences of the moment, but still, when conditions reached an apex, there was nowhere to go but down.
Dying Earth (1950)
My wealth is my shelf of books!
Demon Princes (1964)
“As I listen to you I hear only ingenuousness and didactic theory.”
Lorcas compressed his lips. “Perhaps because you are hearing views which contradict your emotions.”
Alastor trilogy (1973)
Sorry, I’m not at home. I have gone out to my world Fancy, and I cannot be reached. Call back in a week, unless your business is urgent, in which case call back in a month.
Rumfuddle (1973)
Elvo Glissam only knew for certain that he found Schaine as beautiful some magnificent natural process, like a sunrise, or a surge of breaking surf, or stars in the midnight sky.
The Gray Prince (1975)
“You used the word ‘civilization,’ which means a set of abstractions, symbols, conventions. Experience tends to be vicarious; emotions are predigested and electrical; ideas become more real than things.”
The Gray Prince (1975)
What is peace? Balance three iron skewers tip to tip, one upon the other; at the summit, emplace and egg, so that it too poises static in mid-air, and there you have the condition of peace in this world of men.
Lyonesse Trilogy (1983)
The universe is eight billion years old, the last two billion of which have produced intelligent life. During this time not one hour of absolute equity has prevailed. It should be no surprise to find this basic condition applying to your personal affairs.
Nopalgarth (1980)
Money lost, little lost.
Honor lost, much lost.
Pluck lost, all lost.
(This is a quote from E.W. Hornung’s Raffles stories.)
Demon Princes (1964)
Shimrod said: “Once I thought of you as a child in a woman’s body.”
Melancthe smiled a cool smile. “And now?”
“The child seems to have wandered away.”
Lyonesse Trilogy (1983)
“Down we go,” said Paddy. “Now pray to Saint Anthony if you be a good Catholic—”
“I'm not,” snapped Fay, “and if you'll give more mind to the boat and less to religion we’ll gain by it.”
The Five Gold Bands (1950)
Mardien sat glaring on the floor and Travec caught a glimpse of a wild, primordial beast. It was the swiftest of visions and he thought what marvelous disguises were beauty and civilization.
The Augmented Agent and Other Stories (1986)
I know that the history of man is not his technical triumphs, his kills, his victories. It is a composite, a mosaic of a trillion pieces, the account of each man’s accommodation with his conscience. This is the true history of the race.
The Last Castle (1966)
Still, this way of life, peculiar as it seems, is not necessarily a bad system. I suspect that every style of life works our to be a tradeoff between various kinds of freedoms. There are naturally many different freedoms, and sometimes one freedom implies the absence of another.
Alastor trilogy (1973)
"The contingency is remote." (This is also a Jeeves quote in the PG Wodehouse Novels)
Dying Earth (1950)
There is a dark side to humanity, which is like a stone pressed into the mold. The upper side, exposed to sun and air, is clean; tilt it and look below, at the muck and scurrying insects…
Planet of Adventure (1968)