All Quotes

"There is no subject inappropriate for scientific research. Johann, we’ve let you fellows have a monopoly of such matters for too long. The most serious questions in the world have been left to faith or speculation. It is time for scientists to cope with them, or admit that science is no more than pebble counting."

"Protoplasm is protean; any simple protoplasm can become any complex form of life under mutation and selection."

"“The Great Egg must love human beings, he made a lot of them.” “Same argument applies to oysters, only more so.”"

"Oh, we get along. She lets me have my own way, and later I find out I’ve done just what she wanted me to do."

"At fourteen months he began speaking in sentences, short and of his own structure, but sentences. The subjects of his conversation, or, rather, his statements, were consistently egocentric. Normal again—no one expects an infant to write essays on the beauties of altruism."

"Theobald ignored him. He could be deaf when he chose; he seemed to find it particularly difficult to hear the word “No.”"

"Natural selection—the dying out of the poorly equipped—goes on day in and day out, inexorable and automatic. It is as tireless, as inescapable, as entropy."

"“What of it? I’d still be myself. I don’t care what people think.” “You’re mistaken, son. To believe that you can live free of your cultural matrix is one of the easiest fallacies and has some of the worst consequences. You are part of your group whether you like it or not, and you are bound by its customs.”"

"A military hierarchy automatically places a premium on conservative behavior and dull conformance with precedent; it tends to penalize original and imaginative thinking."

"“People tend to fall into three psychological types, all differently motivated. There is the type, motivated by economic factors, money...And there is the type motivated by ‘face,’ or pride. This type is a spender, fighter, boaster, lover, sportsman, gambler; he has a will to power and an itch for glory. And there is the professional type, which claims to follow a code of ethics rather than simply seeking money or glory—priests and ministers, teachers, scientists, medical men, some artists and writers. The idea is that such a man believes that he is devoting his life to some purpose more important than his individual self. You follow me?”"

"Matt, you are suffering from a disease of youth—you expect moral problems to have nice, neat, black-and-white answers."

"The sort of guardian you can hire is worth about as much as the sort of wife you can buy."

"“I wish Doc Pickering was here.” “Yeah, and if fish had feet, they’d be mice.”"

"Precedent is merely the assumption that somebody else, in the past with less information, nevertheless knows better than the man on the spot."

"“Sometimes I think,” he told Tex, “that Th’Wing thinks that I am an idiot studying hard to become a moron—but flunking the course.”"

"“Jim?” “Yes, Dad.” “What’s this about leaving your gun where the baby could reach it?” Jim flushed. “It wasn’t charged, Dad.” “If all the people who had been killed with unloaded guns were laid end to end it would make quite a line up. You are proud of being a licensed gun wearer, aren’t you? “Uh, yes, sir.” “And I’m proud to have you be one. It means you are a responsible, trusted adult. But when I sponsored you before the Council and stood up with you when you took your oath, I guaranteed that you would obey the regulations and follow the code, wholeheartedly and all the time—not just most of the time. Understand me?” “Yes, sir. I think I do.”"

"Never listen to newscasts. Saves wear and tear on the nervous system."

"Doc says the Company set-up is just one big happy family, and the idea that it is a non-profit corporation is the biggest joke since women were invented."

"Every law that was ever written opened up a new way to graft."

"I’m not going to give up my gun. Dad wouldn’t want me to. I’m sure of that. Anyhow, I’m licensed and I don’t have to. I’m a qualified marksman, I’ve passed the psycho tests, and I’ve taken the oath; I’m as much entitled to wear a gun as he is."

"“He’ll pay no mind to me anyhow,” MacRae answered. “That’s the healthy thing about kids.”"

"I found out a long time ago that you have to take some chances in this life. Otherwise you are just a vegetable, headed for the soup pot."

"“You put me in mind of a case I ran into in the American West. A respected citizen shot a professional gunthrower in the back. When asked why he didn’t give the other chap a chance to draw, the survivor said, ‘Well, he’s dead and I’m alive and that’s how I wanted it to be.’ Jamie, if you use sportsmanship on a known scamp, you put yourself at a terrible disadvantage.”"

"“Thanks, awfully,” said Thomas. “Now...uh...what do I owe you for this?” Finney’s reaction made him feel as if he had uttered some indecency. “Don’t mention payment, my son! Money is wrong—it’s the means whereby man enslaves his brother.” “I beg your pardon, sir,” Thomas apologized sincerely. “Nevertheless, I wish there were some way for me to do something for you.” “That is another matter. Help your brother when you can, and help will come to you when you need it.”"

"Three things only do slaves require, food, work, and their gods, and of the three their gods must never be touched, else they grow troublesome."

"These savages and their false gods! I grow weary of them. Yet they are necessary; the priests and the gods of slaves always fight on the side of the Masters. It is a rule of nature."

"They made a good team. As a matter of fact their talents were not too far apart; the artist is two-thirds artisan and the artisan has essentially the same creative urge as the artist."

"We don’t have to be convincing—not in the sense of getting converts. Real converts might prove to be a nuisance. We just have to be convincing enough to look like a legitimate religion to our overlords. And that doesn’t have to be very convincing. All religions look equally silly from the outside."

"“Scheer, are you any good at counterfeiting?” “I’ve never tried it, sir.” “No time like the present. Every man needs an alternative profession.”"

"Sex is rearing its interesting head."

"A man has to grow up in a language to be able to understand it scrambled."

"When had a slave religion proved anything but an aid to the conqueror? Slaves needed a wailing wall; they went into their temples, prayed to their gods to deliver them from oppression, and came out to work in the fields and factories, relaxed and made harmless by the emotional catharsis of prayer."

"Any cipher can be broken, any code can be compromised. But the most exact academic knowledge of a language gives no clue to its slang, its colloquial allusions, its half statements, over statements, and inverted meanings."

"“What sort of a remark?” “Just priestly mumbo-jumbo. Impressive and no real meaning. Can you do it?” “I think so—I used to sell magazine subscriptions.”"

"“Look, Chief—is it really necessary to kill everybody here? I don’t relish it.” “Don’t get chicken, son,” admonished Ardmore with an edge in his voice. “This is war—and war is no joke. There is no such thing as a humane war.”"

"“People have a funny habit of taking as ‘natural’ whatever they are used to—but there hasn’t been any ‘natural’ environment, the way they mean it, since men climbed down out of trees.”"

"I think girls should be raised in the bottom of a deep, dark sack until they are old enough to know better."

"I looked it up later; he was right. Dad is an absolute mine of useless information. He says a fact should be loved for itself alone."

"See how involved it gets? Clover, bees, nitrogen, escape speed, power, plant-animal balance, gas laws, compound interest laws, meteorology—a mathematical ecologist has to think of everything and think of it ahead of time. Ecology is explosive; what seems like a minor and harmless invasion can change the whole balance."

"It was so darn quiet you could hear your hair grow."

"Bill, why is it that some apparently-grown men never learn to do simple arithmetic?"

"Pioneers need good neighbors."

"For three hundred years the race had glazed windows. Then they shut themselves up in little air-conditioned boxes and stared at silly television pictures instead. One might as well be on Luna."

"Gravity’s books have got to balance."

"Horses can manufacture more horses and that is one trick that tractors have never learned."

"You can only grieve so much; after that it’s self pity."

"I said, “What do you think about it, Paul?” The boss smiled gently. “I don’t. I haven’t enough data.”"

"Life is not merely persistent, as Jock puts it; life is explosive. The basic theorem of population mathematics to which there has never been found an exception is that population increases always, not merely up to the extent of the food supply, but beyond it, to the minimum diet that will sustain life—the ragged edge of starvation."

"I’m not raising any kids to be radioactive dust."

"I’m going to put it to you straight. Never mind about being chief engineer of a planet; these days even a farmer needs the best education he can get. Without it he’s just a country bumpkin, a stumbling peasant, poking seeds into the ground and hoping a miracle will make them grow."