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His decision was preordained, and derived from a perverse quirk in his mentality. At his deepest, most essential level, Hack knew himself for an insipid mediocrity, of no intellectual distinction and no particular competence in any direction. This was an insight so shocking that Hack never allowed it past the threshold of consciousness, and he conducted himself as if the reverse were true.

— Jack Vance The Augmented Agent and Other Stories (1986)

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More quotes by Jack Vance

My brain, otherwise a sound instrument, has a serious defect—a hypertrophied lobe of curiosity.

The Many Worlds of Magnus Ridolph (1966)

Experience is the only source of wisdom: by which I mean, the competent conduct of life.

Maske: Thaery (1976)

Now, as to the persistence of superstition, only an impoverished mind considers itself the repository of absolute knowledge.

Future Tense (1964)

He used a name for himself, true, but we played at Romance, and this is a game where truth is a bagatelle.

Lyonesse Trilogy (1983)

“Everyone is the same,” he told himself. “Anxious to arrive and, when they leave, wondering why they came.”

Demon Princes (1964)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Jack Vance (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.