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James Nicoll Quotes

born 1961 Canada

James Davis Nicoll (born March 18, 1961) is a Canadian freelance game and speculative fiction reviewer, former role-playing game store owner, and also works as a first reader for the Science Fiction Book Club.

Canada
Businesspeople

Also known as: James D. Nicoll, James Davis Nicoll, Nicoll, James

Random James Nicoll quote

54 quotes

Latrines are not romantic, but nobody wants a battle called off because the men all have dysentery and are too busy shitting blood to fight.

It's very difficult to convey how alien and horrifying accounts of how American health care works sound to a Canadian.

It's a sad thing that the march of time and evolution of mores can rob one of the ability to laugh at simple domestic abuse.

Alas, time and head injuries are stealing all my memories.

There are no diplomatic efforts that cannot be successfully undermined by a few bigots in the field.

Creating stars in laboratories on the very planets you inhabit turns out to be a bad idea.

I like to think the old traditions live on, along with almost all of the children.

"Nothin'g sa'ys q'uality fantas'y l'ike misuse'd apos'tro'phes."

First rule of space programs in SF: no matter how successful or large they are by our standards, the people in the stories will always bitch about underfunding. This is probably realistic.

I don't mind hidden depths but I insist that there be a surface.

Livejournal post (2005)

Just as people in zombie apocalypses seem never to have seen a zombie apocalypse movie, so people in novels about the pioneering days of time travel never seem to have read novels on the subject.

I also do not recommend shopping with Cordelia Naismith—but I would watch that reality show.

Someday I'd like to read a story about competent people on Mars.

The one job that machines cannot do is be a cruel plutocrat. That's why humans are still needed.

Atomic war is bad but you know what's even worse? Having had enough atomic wars that you can rank them in terms of horribleness.

Although no credible evidence exists that the speed of light can be exceeded, writers are willing to embrace the possibility that light might be outpaced somehow. Never underestimate the persuasive power of somehow.

It takes a courageous Mormon to turn to archaeology to support their argument

LiveJournal post title (2006)

I think once you start eating people you should stop claiming to be a vegetarian, even if you only eat bad people.

Engineers and certified pilots may be expensive but talented young men with a teenager's grasp of risk are surprisingly affordable.

Goodkind is noted for subtle allegories the same way Mt Kilimanjaro is known for floating weightlessly.

Attribution

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