185 quotes
Ten thousand years wasn't enough...no lifetime was enough, unless you lived it in such a way as to make it enough.
Convergent Series (1979)
Jesus Pietro wasn't used to dealing with ghosts.
It would require brand new techniques.
Grimly he set out to evolve them.
A Gift From Earth (1968)
I asked him, “Do you know the difference between nude and naked?”
He shook his head.
“Nude is artistic. Naked is defenseless.”
Tales of Known Space (1975)
You should know by now, Hamilton. We bury everything. The sky is the enemy here. There’s meteors, radiation..spacecraft, for that matter.
Flatlander (1995)
Chickens fly very well in low gravity.
Flatlander (1995)
We learn only to ask more questions.
The Ringworld Engineers (1980)
It doesn’t take brains to mate!
N-Space (1990)
Jovan knew about luck. Like wine: when luck turns sour, the whole barrel is sour.
Playgrounds of the Mind (1991)
“It looks as if this whole place was designed by pulling random pages out of 1950’s women’s magazines.”
“Frightening, isn’t it?”
Dream Park (1981)
I have a kind of psychic invisibility. As long as I can stay scared, I can keep people from seeing me. That's what we have to count on.
A Gift From Earth (1968)
Brennan was an optimist. He didn’t expect to be caught.
Protector (1973)
3) Mother Nature doesn't care if you're having fun.
It was a bad omen. Glitches were a lot like cockroaches. If you didn’t catch them in time, they’d scuttle off into someplace dark and warm and begin to breed.
The California Voodoo Game (1992)
4) It is a sin to waste the reader's time.
Think of it as evolution in action.
Oath of Fealty (1982)
Once you know about critics, you know about literature. Literature is whatever survives the critics.
Playgrounds of the Mind (1991)
Gambling was safer than war. More fun, too. Best of all, it gave him better odds.
Tales of Known Space (1975)
Avalon was neutral. The children of Earth might die, they might thrive. Avalon would embrace their bones or the progeny with equal warmth.
The Legacy of Heorot (1987)
1) Writers who write for other writers should write letters.
5) Psi and/or magical powers, if real, are nearly useless.