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When what is is congruent to what is supposed the reaction is functional and the mental processes competent. When what is and what is supposed to have nothing to do with each other the choice of reactions is random. Something tears. Stay or run, laugh or frown: the decision is chance.

— Samuel R. Delany City of a Thousand Suns (1965)

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More quotes by Samuel R. Delany

Oh, for the rebirth of an educational system where understanding was an essential part of knowledge.

Nova (1968)

“As time progresses,” Lump stated, “people learn. That’s the only hope.”

Empire Star (1966)

Bear in mind that the novel—no matter how intimate, psychological, or subjective—is always a historical projection of its own time.

Nova (1968)

What real power can buy, of course, is anonymity.

Neveryóna (1983)

And who’s to say where life ceases and theater begins—

Triton (1976)

All Samuel R. Delany quotes →

Attribution

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