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Neal Stephenson Quotes
born 1959 United States
Neal Town Stephenson (born 31 October 1959) is an American writer, known primarily for his science fiction works in the postcyberpunk and chemical generation genres with a penchant for explorations of society, mathematics, currency, and the history of science.
United States Essayists Novelists Science fiction authors Short story writers Also known as: Stephenson, Neal, Fall; or, Dodge in Hell, Seveneves, The Big U, The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., Zodiac (novel)
Random Neal Stephenson quote
65 quotes
Trying to, you know, persuade others to join our side. Trying to make the other side look bad. Just like the Internet always was.
Seveneves (2015)
“I always wanted to be a Secret Service agent,” he confessed. “Because then you’re the only person in the world who can knock down the president and get away with it.”
Zodiac (1988)
The world has actually been wired for a century and a half. (New York celebrates the transatlantic telegraph cable in 1858).
He wanted Justice and I wanted a beer.
Zodiac (1988)
A good yuppie has no sense of smell.
Zodiac (1988)
I was happy to avoid them. They wore the uniform of the teen nonconformist: long hair, unsuccessful mustache, black leather.
Zodiac (1988)
Her free hand came up. Daisy came up with it, the faded plastic petals floating in front of her face but gradually fading from view as she sank.
Fall; or, Dodge in Hell (2019)
What you are about to read is not an aberration: it can happen in your local university too. The Big U, simply, was a few years ahead of the rest.
The Big U (1984)
In layperson's terms: if it has to be dunked in liquid helium to work, I don't understand it. If it's in a rack with fans blowing on it, that's a different story.
The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O (2017)
It is a strange world that Industry has made…and I get to float around on the surface, on my Zodiac, announcing that they're in trouble.
Windows 95 and MacOS are products, contrived by engineers in the service of specific companies. Unix, by contrast, is not so much a product as it is a painstakingly compiled oral history of the hacker subculture. It is our Gilgamesh epic.
In the Beginning... was the Command Line (1999)
We did not expect to have a backup system for the rest of the universe. We can rely upon it to be cold most of the time.
Seveneves (2015)
I think visual literacy and media literacy is not without value, but I think plain old-fashioned text literacy and mathematical literacy are much more powerful and flexible ways to organize your mind.
Any strategy that involves crossing a valley—accepting short-term losses to reach a higher hill in the distance—will soon be brought to a halt by the demands of a system that celebrates short-term gains and tolerates stagnation, but condemns anything else as failure. In short, a world where big stuff can never get done.
"Make a password…that you’ve never used before."
“I made it into Wikipedia,” sang Erszebet. “I’ll bet none of my enemies ever made it into Wikipedia.”
The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O (2017)
He had a sense of irony that ruled his life, made it impossible for him to use his considerable brains in any kind of serious job. Kind of like me.
Zodiac (1988)
“People who claim they are motivated by the Purpose end up behaving differently—and generally better—than people who serve other masters.”
Seveneves (2015)
I began to dig into the history of the Fuggers. Even with the combined resources of Harvard’s library system and U.S. intelligence databases, I wasn’t able to find much.
If we had more bankers who adopted a long-term view…we might not be in the middle of a financial crisis that is blowing away 150-year-old investment banks. (Image: Lehman Brothers liquidation.)
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