105 quotes
“This is a grim business. There’s nothing romantic about harassing an overwhelming power with no hope of winning.”
“If he knows he can’t win, why does he do it?”
“To avoid losing.”
“That sounds profound, but it doesn’t make a hell of a lot of sense,” said Cain.
Santiago: a Myth of the Far Future (1986)
“Let me suggest that sometimes it’s not a bad idea to judge a man by his enemies.”
“In your case it’s an absolute necessity,” said Cain sardonically. “I’ve met your friends.”
Santiago: a Myth of the Far Future (1986)
The doctors told told me there would be some pain involved. Hah! When a surgeon suggest that you might feel a bit of mild discomfort, you can bet your bottom dollar you’re about to undergo the agony of the damned.
The Three-Legged Hootch Dancer (1983)
“Why are you fighting it?”
“Because somebody has to.”
“That’s not much of a reason.”
“It’s the best reason there is,” said Santiago. “The first duty of power is to perpetuate itself. The first duty of free men is to resist it.”
Santiago: a Myth of the Far Future (1986)
“You make him sound like a spiteful man,” noted Bonhomme.
“No,” said Suma. “Just greedy.”
“Everybody’s greedy,” replied Bonhomme. He just happens to be a little more efficient at it than most of us.”
Eros Ascending (1984)
“It wouldn't work,” said Page.
“Why?”
“Because you're a machine. You're simply reporting facts, and facts have very little to do with truth.”
“That is contradictory, Nate.”
“Only to a machine,” replied Page.
Eros at Nadir (1986)
“He has wealth, and fame, and security, and everything he ever wanted,” persisted Mr. Ahasuerus. “Why should he be unhappy?”
“Maybe because he’s got wealth and fame and security and everything he ever wanted,” replied the Dancer.
The Best Rootin' Tootin' Shootin' Gunslinger in the Whole Damned Galaxy (1983)
I was so average, Tojo. Even after I stopped being fat I was just an average girl with average parents and average grades and average friends. I was always afraid I was going to have an average husband and sleep with him 3.4 times a week and have 2.2 children.
The Three-Legged Hootch Dancer (1983)
If he used Company ships and personnel to stop an alien invasion, somebody someday might file a report that would be the only sort of report that the bureaucracy handled with the speed of lightning: that someone was bypassing the bureaucracy.
The Red Tape War (1991)
“Procyon III does have a gravity identical to Earth’s,” said Mr. Ahasuerus apologetically.
“I suspect it’s also about as heavily populated as Saskatchewan.”
“I am unacquainted with that location,” said the blue man.
“So is everyone else.”
The Three-Legged Hootch Dancer (1983)
“You must have been a very serious young man.”
“Actually, I used to laugh a lot more than I do now.” He shrugged. “That was when I thought one moral man could make a difference. The only thing I find really funny these days is the fact that so many people still believe it.”
Santiago: a Myth of the Far Future (1986)
Crane stared at her for a moment. “I realize that people find me abrasive and demanding…” he began.
“You left out tyrannical,” she noted dryly.
Eros at Zenith (1984)
“That's a very small comfort, to me or to him,” said Christina bitterly.
“I’m a scientist,” answered Robert apologetically. “I’m better at analyzing problems than finding comforting things to say about them.”
Eros Descending (1985)
“Christina, you shouldn't say that about your brother,” said Gold. “He happens to be the most righteous man I've ever been privileged to know.”
“That's just the kind of man who will commit any crime without compunction if he's convinced he's right,” said Christina.
Eros Descending (1985)
There are a thousand events that must transpire, each in its exact order; a million futures must vanish every nanosecond; and you ask me to explain all this to you? Poor little human, who seeks only a full belly and a fat wallet, who dreams of heroic deeds and grateful maidens, and who is doomed only to become a speck of dust in a galaxy already overflowing with dust.
Prophet (1993)
“You’re sure of that, are you?”
“I’m the best there is, so why shouldn’t I have the best job?”
“Modest, too,” commented Redwine dryly.
“The next modest whore you meet will be the first,” replied Suma.
Eros Ascending (1984)
“You have no moral compunctions about it?” persisted Batman.
“Hell, no,” replied Monk. “As Thaddeus says, if God didn’t want them fleeced, He wouldn’t have made ’em sheep. Words to live by, once you become a carny.”
The Wild Alien Tamer (1983)
“You’ve got quite a library. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many books in one place before.”
“I like the heft and feel of a book,” replied Santiago. “Computer libraries are filled with electrical impulses. Books are filled with words.”
Santiago: a Myth of the Far Future (1986)
“Sue me, but I just don't see any need to be this artsy-fartsy.”
“I’m trying to create a work of art, damn it!” said Page, exasperated.
“Works of art appeal to the masses, Nate; they don't hold them in contempt or try to drive them away.”
Eros at Nadir (1986)
“I probably shouldn’t admit this to you, but I don’t enjoy sleeping alone since I’ve met you. And I’m certainly not going to seduce your body if I know your mind is still working away on this paranoid fantasy.” She paused. “So the sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can go back to behaving like normal adult human beings.”
Eros Ascending (1984)