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"Still, this way of life, peculiar as it seems, is not necessarily a bad system. I suspect that every style of life works our to be a tradeoff between various kinds of freedoms. There are naturally many different freedoms, and sometimes one freedom implies the absence of another."

"“While we were gone someone broke into my case and stole most of my things.” The news seemed to drive Skorlet close to the limits of self-control. “And what do you expect?” she snapped in an unpleasantly harsh voice. “This is an egalistic country; why should you have more than anyone else?” “I have been over-egalized,” said Jantiff drily. “To the effect that I now have less than anyone else.”"

"“Remember, my dear, Jantiff isn’t an egalist like the rest of us; he wants to do something quite extraordinary and individualistic.” “Yes, partly that,” said Jantiff, wishing that he had never ventured an opinion. “But it’s more like this: here I am, born into life with certain capabilities. If I don’t use these capabilities and achieve my utmost then I’m cheating myself, and living a soiled life. “Hmm,” said Tanzel sagely. “If everyone were like you, the world would be a very nervous place.” Jantiff gave an embarrassed laugh. “No cause for worry; there don’t seem to be many people like me.”"

"So much existed: so much to be felt and seen and known! A single life was not enough…"

"“Only children are intolerant of conventions. They are indispensable to an organized civilization, like discipline to an army, or foundations to a building, or landmarks to a traveler. Without conventions civilization is a handful of water. An army without discipline is a mob. A building without foundations is rubble. A traveler without landmarks is lost.” Lorcas stated that he opposed not all convention, but only those which he found irksome and pointless."

"“As I listen to you I hear only ingenuousness and didactic theory.” Lorcas compressed his lips. “Perhaps because you are hearing views which contradict your emotions.”"

"By an axiom of cultural anthropology, the more isolated a community, the more idiosyncratic become its customs and conventions. This of course is not necessarily disadvantageous."

"Here was the milieu he loved: conversation! Supple sentences, with first and second meanings and overtones beyond, outrageous challenges with cleverly planned slip-points, rebuttals of elegant brevity; deceptions and guiles, patient explanations of the obvious, fleeting allusions to the unthinkable. As a preliminary, the conversationalist must gauge the mood, the intelligence, and the verbal facility of the company."

"The Rhune is not a likable man. He is so sensitive as to be truculent; he is contemptuous of all other races than the Rhune. He is self-centered, arrogant, unsympathetic in his judgments."

"A troubled society is like a man with a stomach-ache. When he purges himself, he improves."

"“I perceive your ideological bias.” “It is not bias to favor the tried and true ways of the past; it is ordinary common sense.”"

"Perhaps you mistake assurance for insolence…Agreed, the qualities sometimes converge."

"There’s ample human achievement in the universe, but not nearly enough beauty."

"Which is better: cheap submission or expensive independence?"

"Drowsing in the warmth, Etzwane could find no occasion for haste; indeed, the prospect of docking the boat and stepping ashore aroused in him a curious mood of melancholy. The adventure would then be definitely finished; for all its misery and black despair, he had lived to his utmost capacity; he had augmented and enriched his life."

"I know now what I should have known every moment of my life; that unless you help yourself, you die a slave. The fact is basic."

"“Bah,” muttered Sul. “I am unable to chop logic with you; you have the superior sleight with words.”"

"I am not the man for this sort of business; I detest puzzlement."

"“I consider myself a fortunate men, more so than most. I have often wondered why it was given to me to live the life of Kyril Fabrache.” “These reflections, at one time or another, have occurred to all of us,” said Ifness, “but unless we are agreed upon a religion of gradated reincarnation, the question is ingenuous.”"

"“Where are the Red Devil bones?” “Not far distant: beyond the ridge. Can you not sense the presence of so much death?” Ifness responded in a measured voice: “An intellect in full control of itself unfortunately must sacrifice that receptivity which distinguishes the primitive mentality. This is an evolutionary step I have, on the whole, been happy to make.”"

"“I made no such assertion,” Ifness said. “You drew a faulty inference, for which I cannot accept responsibility. In any event the situation is more complicated than you suppose, and you must be prepared for subtlety.” “Subtlety or deception?” demanded Etzwane. “The effect is much the same.” Ifness held up his hand. “I will explain the situation, if only to reduce the flow of your reproaches.”"

"Ignorance induces suspicion."

"Finnerack warmed to his subject. “Further, why should some toil for a mouthful of bread while long-fingered sybarites partake of Forty-Five Dishes? The good things should be divided; we should start the new system on a basis of equality.” Mialambre responded: “Your sentiments or generous and do you credit. All I can say is that such drastic redistributions have previously been attempted, always to result in chaos and cruel tyranny of one sort or another. This is the lesson of history, which we must now heed.” Finnerack offered no further opinions."

"Your vision exceeds your practicality: often the case with a musician."

"If the study of human interactions could become a science, I suspect that an inviolate axiom might be discovered to this effect: Every social disposition creates a disparity of advantages. Further: Every innovation designed to correct the disparities, no matter how altruistic in concept, works only to create a new and different set of disparities."

"Justice, a human invention, is as protean as the race itself, and varies from canton to canton. The traveler must be wary lest he contravene some unfamiliar local ordinance."

"Never neglect the wonder of conscious existence, which too soon comes to an end!"

"“I have not been tamed,” said Finnerack. “I have only been enslaved.”"

"It is foolish to be outraged by a fact of nature."

"Events rush together. History occurs."

"My point is this: no outsider can effectively organize a group of experts; they must organize themselves."

"I don’t care a fig whether or not you are offended."

"Ifness pursed his lips judiciously. “All folk, mercantilists as well as tavern-keepers and musicians, try to relate their work to abstract universals. We mercantilists are highly sensitive to theft, which stabs at our very essence. To steal is to acquire goods by a simple, informal, and inexpensive process. To buy identical goods is tedious, irksome, and costly. Is it any wonder that larceny is popular? Nonetheless it voids the mercantilist’s reasons for being alive; we regard thieves with the same abhorrence that musicians might feel for a fanatic gang which beat bells and gongs whenever musicians played.” Frolitz stifled an ejaculation. Ifness tasted the mug of green cider which Loy had set before him. “To repeat: when a thief steals property he steals life. For a mercantilist I am tolerant of human weakness, and I would not react vigorously to the theft of a day. I would resent the theft of a week; I would kill the thief who stole a year of my life.”"

"“The burglar suffered a harsh fate,” Frolitz told Etzwane.” The lesson to be learned is this: Never commit an unlawful act. Especially, never steal; when you take a man’s property, your life becomes forfeit, as has just been demonstrated.” Loy rubbed his chin with uneasy fingers. “In a sense, the penalty seems extreme. The burglar took goods but lost his life. These are the laws of Elphine which the Faceless Man correctly enforced—but should a bagful of goods and a man’s life weigh so evenly on the balance?” The white-haired stranger offered his opinion. “Why should it be otherwise? You ignore a crucial factor in the situation. Property and life are not incommensurable, when property is measured in terms of human toil. Essentially property is life; it is that proportion of life which an individual has expended to gain the property. When a thief steals property, he steals life. Each act of pillage therefore becomes a small murder.”"

"The cantons of Shant were alike only in their mutual distrust. Each regarded as Universal Principles its own customs, costumes, jargon, and mannerisms and considered all else eccentricity."

"Are musicians unlike other men? Beget and forget, that’s how it goes."

"“It goes to demonstrate,” said Reith, “that you can’t judge a man by the table he sets.” Cauch asked shrewdly, “How then can a man judge his fellows? For example, what is the basis of your calculation?” “Only one thing I know for certain,” said Reith. “First thoughts are always wrong.”"

"Surveillance portended unpleasant events: this on Tschai was an axiom of existence."

"“Do you deny the charges?” “I neither confirm nor deny them; they are ridiculous.”"

"Evidently you do not trust me. This does not predispose me to trust you."

"There is no reason why the project should not go easily and smoothly except for the innate perversity of circumstances."

"They consider garrulity a crime against nature."

"Where cowards never venture, heroes find splendor."

"“Adam Reith, you have made a serious mistake.” Reith nodded grimly. “Instead of an honest man I hired you.”"

"A person who calls facts absurdities will often be surprised."

"This is an insane society, constrained by punctilio as a rotten egg is held by its shell."

"“The problems are large,” Reith agreed. “Still, assuming that your premise is correct—” “‘Assume’? ‘Premise’?” demanded the fat woman in a shocked voice. ‘Revelation,’ rather.” “Possibly so. But mysticism is not a practical approach to space travel.”"

"Vengeance is not the most noble activity, but submissiveness is worse."

"There is a dark side to humanity, which is like a stone pressed into the mold. The upper side, exposed to sun and air, is clean; tilt it and look below, at the muck and scurrying insects…"

"Your analyses at times border upon the mordant."