144 quotes
Heim ignored the mob scene on the 3V, rested his eyes on the cold serenity of the Milky Way and thought that this, at least, would endure.
The Star Fox (1965)
Everard sighed, switched off his conscience, and began lying.
Well, everybody got stupid now and then, especially in war.
What’s to explain? I’ve scant use for those types whose chief interest is their grubby little personal neuroses. Not in a universe as rich as this.
Tau Zero (1970)
It was lonely, not even knowing yourself.
Three Hearts and Three Lions (1961)
“Your son was in your own tradition.”
“Better, I hope,” said the old man. “There would be little sense to existence, did boys have no chance to be more than their fathers.”
The Enemy Stars (1959)
He had intended to say that such was the nature of power. Seizing it and holding it were alike filthy.
I seek occasional relief in old books. They help me tell the transient from the enduring.
“I wonder if there are any gods at all—if they aren’t just another story.”
Tom and Owl shrank from him. But no lightning struck.
Vault of the Ages (1952)
She seldom bothered taking revenge. Time did that for her, eventually.
“Do you know,” said Maclaren, “there is one sin which is punished with unfailing certainty, and must therefore be the deadliest sin in all time. Stupidity.”
The Enemy Stars (1959)
I say that a God who would come between two who have been to each other what we have been, is not one I would heed.
The Broken Sword (1954)
Here was more than a question of law; it was a matter of whose will should prevail.
Who can make a medicine against time?
One can surrender one’s rational will to beliefs or habits as easily as to individuals, for essentially the same reasons, and with essentially the same results. Ideas have a mystery and power of their own.
The Book of Poul Anderson (1975)
He did not share the widespread present-day faith in astrology. It seemed likeliest to him that sheer accident ruled the world.
You know what they say about bold spacemen never becoming old spacemen.
Garden in the Void (1952)
Another irritating thing about Naqsans was their habit of solemnly repeating the obvious. In that respect they were almost as bad as humans.
The Star Fox (1965)
What I’m trying to make you know, not in your forebrain but in your marrow, is that reality never conforms very well to the textbooks, and sometimes it doesn’t conform at all.
A greedy man is an unlucky man.