296 quotes
What is an evil man? The man is evil who coerces obedience to his private ends, destroys beauty, produces pain, extinguishes life.
Demon Princes (1964)
Human interactions, stimulated as they are by disequilibrium, never achieve balance. In even the most favorable transaction, one party—whether he realizes it or not—must always come out the worse.
Dying Earth (1950)
“Wisdom doesn’t work as well as you might imagine.”
“Everything else works much worse,” said Hetzel.
Galactic Effectuator (1980)
Adventure is just another name for having the daylights scared out of you and living to tell about it.
The Narrow Land (1982)
A single question remained, the age-old cry of anguish: “How could one so beautiful be so base?”
Lyonesse Trilogy (1983)
I suppose if you isolate yourself to such an extent, you more or less must expect a series of emergencies.
Rumfuddle (1973)
Discipline in itself is not a corrupt concept, only discipline that is imposed rather than self-calculated.
Demon Princes (1964)
If the past is a house of many chambers, then the present is the most recent coat of paint.
Rumfuddle (1973)
Music is like a language: you cannot understand it unless you learn it, or more accurately, are born into it.
Space Opera (1965)
The symbologist made a cryptic sign. “That remains to be seen, as the cat said who voided into the sugar bowl.”
Demon Princes (1964)
This is an insane society, constrained by punctilio as a rotten egg is held by its shell.
Planet of Adventure (1968)
And, stretching in languid warmth, she contrived to twist her body into first one luxurious position, then another.
Dying Earth (1950)
The tighter the discipline of an art form, the more subjective the criteria of taste.
Demon Princes (1964)
Art implies discipline; the more excellent the art, the more rigorous the discipline.
Demon Princes (1964)
You are a particularly clever girl: almost as clever as you are appealing to the eye.
Lyonesse Trilogy (1983)
Sacerdotal, religious or priest-dominated societies are like organisms with a cancer.
Night Lamp (1996)
They meant no harm, of course; they wanted only that he be like themselves, which was the prerogative of all parents.
Night Lamp (1996)
Until work has reached its previous stage nympharium privileges are denied to all.
Dying Earth (1950)
“Anacho, my friend,” said Reith, “you have a great deal to learn. The process will come as an appalling shock to you.”
Planet of Adventure (1968)
There is no reason why the project should not go easily and smoothly except for the innate perversity of circumstances.
Planet of Adventure (1968)