Novelists From The United States

"If there were no such creatures as minstrel-maidens, it would be necessary to invent them."

"“It seems that you are wrong, that you are guided by faith indeed.” The Demie fell silent. His face seemed to stiffen. “Are these not facts?” asked Joaz. “How do you reconcile them with your faith? The Demie said mildly, “Facts can never be reconciled with faith.”"

"Since we are not permitted to act, we are obliged to know."

"Kergan Banbeck threw up his hands, turned once more to the sacerdote. “How can I halt his nonsense? How can I make him see reason? The sacerdote reflected. “He speaks not nonsense, but rather a language you fail to understand. You can make him understand your language by erasing all knowledge and training from his mind, and replacing it with patterns of your own.”"

"“You will understand,” said the Weaponeer, “that a pattern for events exists. It is the function of such as myself to shape events so that they will fit the pattern.” He bent, with a graceful sweep of arm, and seized a small jagged pebble. “Just as I can grind this bit of rock to fit a round aperture.” Kergan Banbeck reached forward, took the pebble, tossed it high over the tumbled boulders. “That bit of rock you shall never shape to fit a round hole.” The Weaponeer shook his head in mild deprecation. “There is always more rock.” “And there are always more holes,” declared Kergan Banbeck."

"When you demand the nature of my motives, you reveal the style of your thinking to be callow, captious, superficial, craven, uncertain and impudent."

"Your thoughts move with the deft precision of worm-tracks in the mud."

"There are no absolute certainties in this universe. A man must try to whip order into a yelping pack of probabilities, and uniform success is impossible."

"“I learned a great deal,” said Beran. “And then I lost all heart for further learning.” Palafox’s eyes glinted. “Education is not achieved through the heart—it is a systematization of the mental processes.” “But I am something other than a mental process,” said Beran. “I am a man. I must reckon with the whole of myself.”"

"“Truth” is contained in the preconceptions of him who seeks to define it. Any organization of ideas whatever presupposes a judgment on the world."

"Speaking our language, you will understand us—and if you can think as another man thinks, you cannot dislike him."

"“Do you still think I’m crazy?” Her glance went to his left shoulder. “I’m not well enough acquainted with the norm of your people to judge.” Barch rose to his feet. He said thickly, “About ten more minutes of double talk, I actually would be crazy.”"

"The curious race, the Earthers. Young, only a few years removed from savagery, contaminated by the past, correspondingly exuberant and direct."

"Komeitk Lelianr said in a colorless voice, “Barch is from the planet Earth.” “Earth?” “Out in the Efrstl region.” Komeitk Lelianr looked at Barch dispassionately. “His people are socially disorganized, technically limited, ruled by emotion. But any kind of challenge seems to arouse in them a feverish energy. Burch thinks of it as dynamism. It is a necessity for action, no matter whether or not towards impossible ends. Rationality is a curiously ineffective argument against him; you are forced to think in his terms.”"

"You have no concept of Magarak’s reality; you refuse to think; you live by ready-made emotional doctrines—a substitute for thought. What is worse, you try to wrench reality to fit your ideas."

"“What’s the trouble? Given up?” “What is there to give up?” “Confidence.” She said in a soft voice, “We’re slaves; slaves have no need for confidence.” “I’m not a slave until I feel like a slave.”"

"“There is war between us that perhaps you cannot completely understand—a long-range combat of our—” she sought for a word to express a complex Lekthwan idea “— moral vitality. In the end we will win. Meanwhile many people suffer.” She shrugged. “The universe is not a paradise.”"

"The merchant voiced an inarticulate protest. Glystra glared at him, “Do you think I trust you?” “Trust?” said the merchant with a puzzled expression. “Trust? What word is that?” And he tested it several times more."

"Now was the present, now was the time containing that sweet union of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, spirit, will and imagination named Nancy."

"A barbarian is not aware that he is a barbarian."

"A man is like a rope: both break at a definite strain....The solution is not splicing the rope; it’s lessening the tension."

"The history of man is a compendium of such evil. We are an evolutionary product, descendants of predators. A few synthetic foods aside, every morsel eaten by man is taken from another living thing. We are intended for murder; we kill to exist!"

"“It is simple dog-eat-dog,” said Waylock. It’s basic battle for survival, fiercer and more brutal than ever before in the history of man. You have blinded yourself; you subscribe to false theories; you are permeated with your obsession—not only you but all of us. If we faced the facts of existence, our palliatories would be less crowded.”"

"“The crime,” said the Jacynth softly, “is abstract and fundamental: the innate depravity of extinguishing life.”"

"The void is a mouth crying to be filled, a blank mind aching for thought, a cavity desperate for shape. What is not implies what is."

"Another busy day! So let’s to business. The clock moves forward; wasted time is life defeated!"

"He’s like an imbecile with a pepper shaker; a little makes his food taste good, therefore a lot will make it wonderful."

"He must approach the subject critically, alert for contradictions, pedantry and vagueness."

"You can’t convict or even accuse a man of criminal activity just because he looks peculiar; otherwise, three-quarters of us would be in jail."

"If the dictators and militarists who used to start wars had to earn by manual labor what their wars cost, there would have been very few wars."

"“My father says I have too much curiosity for my own good.” Captain Henshaw chuckled. “He’s wrong there; too much curiosity never hurt anyone. When a boy has too little, that’s the time to start worrying.”"

"“Down we go,” said Paddy. “Now pray to Saint Anthony if you be a good Catholic—” “I'm not,” snapped Fay, “and if you'll give more mind to the boat and less to religion we’ll gain by it.”"

"Damned meddlers. It’s hard to know when their curiosity is official and when it’s just curiosity."

"I'm only giving orders because I'm more efficient and smarter than you are."

"It is as well that the amok has no weapons other than his knife. Otherwise he would kill twenty where now he kills one."

"Mardien sat glaring on the floor and Travec caught a glimpse of a wild, primordial beast. It was the swiftest of visions and he thought what marvelous disguises were beauty and civilization."

"You’re an idealist. The idealists are always the revolutionaries, the cat’s-paws. Then the realists consolidate, compromise and liquidate the opposition."

"All religions grew from human dread of death, reflected Travec—the brassier the claims for afterlife, the more popular the creed."

"“No,” said Travec, “religions, cults, rituals—forms of insanity—don’t interest me.”"

"The repair system exists to keep the machinery operating but no provision had been made to repair the repair system."

"“Why does a chicken cross a road?” “Presumably the motivations and restraints in reference to the prospective action settle into an equilibrium which prompts the motion rather than the stasis.”"

"“Crime occurs when the social structure is in itself inattentive and unwieldy,” she added offhandedly, “when the culture provides no scope for fulfillment.”"

"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."

"She watched with an expression—quizzical, unhuman. Mario wondered, how can beauty be refined to such to such reckless heights, and still be so cold and friendless? If she were wounded, would she bleed?"

"Adventure is just another name for having the daylights scared out of you and living to tell about it."

"“What are the motives which prompt men to new enterprises? First, money, which in a sense comprises, includes, all of the other motives too. But for the sake of clarity, call this first, the desire for money, and end in itself. Second, there’s the will for power. Subdivide that last into, say, the crusading instinct and call it a desire for unlimited sexual opportunity. Power over women. Then third, curiosity, the desire to know. Fourth, the enterprise for its own sake, as a diversion. Like a millionaire’s race horses. Fifth, philanthropy. Any more?” “Covers it,” said Zaer."

"“You have not accepted my advice.” Fair shrugged. “You asked me to remain ignorant, to accept my stupidity and ineptitude.”"

"“But why do you force upon men, a million years of this wretched existence?” asked Lanarck. Laoome gave an untranslatable mental shrug. “I am just, and indeed benevolent,” he said. “These men worship me as a god. Upon a certain hillock, which they hold sacred, they bring their sick and wounded. There, if the whim takes me, I restore them to health. So far as their existence is concerned, they relish the span of their life as much as you do yours.” “Yet in creating these worlds, you are responsible for the happiness of the inhabitants. If you were truly benevolent, why should you permit disease and terror to exist?” Laoome again gave his mental shrug. “I might say that I have this universe of our own as a model. Perhaps there is another Laoome dreaming out the worlds we ourselves live on.”"

"“I know the feeling,” said Lanarck. “I’ve had my own troubles with the scoundrels. The only good bursar is a dead bursar.”"

"A people’s soul was pictured in its architecture: such was the aphorism of the ancient sage."