"“Women are always underestimated by men,” said Alisaard, a note of satisfaction in her voice, “and this enables them sometimes to gather far more power to themselves than the men suspect.”"

"“Evil flourishes best in disguise,” said Otto grimly. His companions nodded in assent. “And the best disguise is simple” said the youth, Federit Shaus. “Honest patriotism. Joyful idealism.” “You’re a cynic, lad,” von Bek smiled at him. “But sadly my own experience would support your view. Show me a man who cries ‘my country right or wrong’, and I’ll show you one who’d cheerfully murder half his own nation in the name of patriotism.”"

"How true it is when they say there is nothing which makes a man more furious than the discovery that he has deceived himself!"

"Time is at once an agony of the Present, a long torment of the Past and the terrible prospect of countless Futures. Time is also a complex of subtly intersecting realities, of unguessable consequences and undiscoverable causes, of profound tensions and dependencies."

"Because I had sought to challenge Destiny, Destiny had taken vengeance."

"“I would be grateful if I was allowed to work out my own destiny for once,” I said. “For good or ill.”"

"Destiny’s Champion, Fate’s fool. Eternity’s Soldier, Time’s Tool."

"All Empires fall, All ages die, All strife shall be in vain. All Kings go down, All hope must fail, But Tanelorn remains— Our Tanelorn remains..."

"Here, I thought, I had found the human race in its final stages of decadence—perverse, insouciant, without ambition. And I could not blame them. After all, they had no future."

"Nothing is known for certain, Isarda. All knowledge is illusion—purpose is a meaningless word, a mere sound, a reassuring fragment of melody in a cacophony of clashing chords. All is flux—matter is like these jewels. (She throws a handful of gleaming gems upon the golden surface; they scatter. When the last jewel has ceased to move, she looks up at him.) Sometimes they fall into a rough pattern, usually they do not. So as this moment, a pattern has been formed—you and I stand here speaking. But at any moment that which constitutes our beings may be scattered again."

"The problems for which I could find no solution in fact had no solution."

"There must be countless forms of love. Which is the form which conquers the rest? I cannot define it. I shall not try."

"It’s getting late. I must return to my ship or my men will think I’ve drowned and be celebrating."

"I stared at the water and saw the clouds reflected in it, saw them break to reveal the moon. It was the same moon I had known as John Daker. The same bland face could be made out staring down in contentment at the antics of the creatures of the planet it circled. How many disasters had that moon witnessed? How many foolish crusades? How many wars and battles and murders?"

"I felt sorry for him at that moment. He only wanted what every man wanted—freedom from fear, a chance to raise children with a reasonable certainty that they would be allowed to do the same, a chance to look forward to the future without the knowledge that any plans made might be wrecked forever by some sudden act of violence."

"If the people at the top think that reaching for a gun will solve the problem, why shouldn’t the people at the bottom think the same?"

"To the fearful all things are chaotic. That’s how you get religion (and its bastard child, politics)."

"“We can only be kind to one another,” she said, “there is scarcely any alternative if we are to resist chaos.”"

"Somewhere you can hear them whimpering, as if the evidence of their own mortality were emphasised by the knowledge of other people’s happiness."

"Her face was now a mask of moral outrage. “You talk of fashion while I speak of morality.” It was true that Jerry had never been able to see much of a difference between the two."

"Time was the enemy of identity."

"He realised that Law and Order were not particularly compatible."

"At last the computer had superseded the automobile as the focus for mankind’s hopes and fears."

"Sometimes he would admit that one form of superstition was as good as another, but he still preferred to rely on the forms he knew."

"Irony, Lady Sue, is no substitute for imagination."

"As Barrington Bayley had pointed out in his book Structural Dynamism, man was not an intelligent animal. He was an animal with intelligence that he could apply to some, not all, of his activities."

"What kind of chromosomes a person has is called his genotype, and the appearance of a person is called his phenotype. Thus, males have the genotype XY and the phenotype male. Women have the genotype XX and the phenotype female.… In every war in history there must have been a considerable flow of genes one way or another. Whether the genes of the victors or of the vanquished have increased most is a debatable point."

"Some try to understand the world, while others seek to impose their understanding on it. Unfortunately, Mr. Smiles, these latter folk are those least equipped to perform the operation. Like Frankenstein, my dear Mr. Smiles, they produce a monster."

"“Better the myth of happiness,” Harlequin murmured, “than the myth of despair.”"

"“I appreciate this quest for national identity,” she said, “but it does seem that most traditions were dropped for the good reason that they were revoltingly cruel and stupid.”"

"I was thinking of going into the assassination business. You know what a dreamer I am. Would it be too much of a hit and myth operation, do you think?"

"“There’s more to life than drugs and sex, Mr. Cornelius.” “There’s more than life to drugs and sex. It’s better than nothing.”"

"Yesterday’s underdog is tomorrow’s tyrant."

"Even ruin could not make it picturesque. The streets were awash with weather-stained postcards, bedraggled and muddy King Arthur tea-towels, broken plastic Holy Grails, Excaliburs carved from chalk, tiny Round Tables to hang on the wall, and polystyrene crowns. In the reign of one Elizabeth the ideal had reached perfection and, in the reign of another, it had achieved its ultimate degradation."

"Everything dies eventually—but that shouldn’t stop us enjoying life while it is there to be enjoyed."

"“He complains that I don’t really understand the importance of it all. He thinks my loyalties are sometimes divided.” They were quite a long way behind the men. Mitzi smirked. “Of course, that’s impossible. I haven’t any loyalties at all.”"

"How many generations need to comply in a fallacy before it becomes accepted as truth?"

"“I’ll be seeing you,” said Jerry. Koutrouboussis chuckled to himself. “At this rate you’ll be raising me, too.”"

"Stagnation’s no substitute for stability."

"From the ceiling came the miserable, neurotic drone of the Everly Brothers. He let it play, deepening his mood. If a mood was worth having, he thought, it was worth having profoundly."

"The barbarians don’t come from outside the walls any more, do they?"

"From beyond the door came the sound of people at prayer, led by the droning voices of the priests. Even the plane seemed to be praying. Una went to find a parachute before they reached Windermere."

"“The schizophrenic condition finds its most glorious expression in Hinduism,” remarked Professor Hira. “Whereas Christianity is an expression of the much less interesting paranoid frame of reference. Paranoia is rarely heroic, in the mythical sense, at least.”"

"Is there anything sadder, I wonder, than an assassin with nobody left to kill?"

"Technology is potential freedom from brutality."

"Time to be moving; moves to be timing."

"“It’s like prostitution.” “It’s a lot like prostitution, isn’t it?” “You see nothing wrong…?” “The customer’s always right.” “And you have no,” she shuddered, “ethics?” “I give the public what it wants, if that’s what you mean.”"

"The poor man has sacrificed himself for others, but he could not help resenting them from time to time."

"“Entropy’s setting in. Or so they say.” “Why should that be true?” “It’s Time—it’s all used up.” “This is metaphysical nonsense!” “Very likely.”"

"“You look ahead.” “I look around. Ahead’s here already.”"