"Here’s some miscellaneous information. First, wear what you like. Personally I dislike uniforms. I never have worn a uniform. Secondly, if you have a religion, keep it to yourself. I dislike religions. I have always disliked religions. In response to the thought passing through each of your skulls, I do not think of myself as God. But you may do so, if you choose."

"Now, as to the persistence of superstition, only an impoverished mind considers itself the repository of absolute knowledge."

"I’d rather be a live pessimist than a dead comedian."

"“I’m not sure. There’s not much I can do. Unless—” he hesitated. “Unless what?” “Unless I make an underwater survey myself.” Damon was appalled. “What do you hope to gain by that?” Fletcher smiled. “If I knew, I wouldn’t need to go.”"

"Mystery is a word with no objective pertinence, merely describing the limitations of a mind. In fact, a mind may be classified by the order of the phenomena it considers mysterious.… The mystery is resolved, the solution made known. “Of course, it is obvious!” comes the chorus. A word about the obvious: it is always obvious.… The common mind transposed the sequence, letting the mystery generate the solution. This is logic in reverse; actually the mystery relates to the solution as the foam relates to the beer.…"

"“That’s the city hall,” he said. “The Mayor lives upstairs, where he can, ha ha, guard the city funds.”"

"My brain, otherwise a sound instrument, has a serious defect—a hypertrophied lobe of curiosity."

"Banish Evil from the world? Nonsense! Encourage it, foster it, sponsor it. The world owes Evil a debt beyond imagination. Think! Without greed ambition falters. Without vanity art becomes idle musing. Without cruelty benevolence lapses to passivity. Superstition has shamed man into self-reliance and, without stupidity, where would be the savor of superior understanding?"

"The big man’s scowl deepened. “You’re not what I expected.” “Intelligence, facility, resourcefulness are not like neckties, to be displayed as ornaments,” Magnus Ridolph pointed out."

"“I have heard your name mentioned.” “Probably as a high-flying free-wheeling financial hell-raiser.” “I believe the term ‘unscrupulous blackguard’ was used,” said Ridolph."

"The ancient tale, thought Burke: barbarism triumphant over civilization."

"“Are they material?” “They exist; therefore they are material. Is this not a universal truth?”"

"“We suspect that telepathy occurs instantaneously, if no faster—” “How could anything be faster than instantaneously?” Margaret inquired. “It could arrive before it started. In which case it’s called precognition.” “Oh.” “In any event it seems that thought is a different stuff from our usual matter, that it obeys different laws, acts through a different medium, in a different dimension set, in short, works through a different space—implying a different universe.” Tarbert frowned. “You’re getting a little carried away; you’re using the word ‘thought’ rather too easily. After all, what is ‘thought’? So far as we know, it’s a word to describe a complex of electrical and chemical processes in our brains, these more elaborate, but intrinsically no more mysterious, than the operation of a computer. With all the goodwill and predisposition in the world, I can’t see how ‘thought’ can work metaphysical miracles.”"

"“The Iszics seem to have small understanding of intellectual curiosity,” observed Farr. “To compensate, we have a large understanding of rapacity, larceny, brain-picking and exploitation."

"“Ridiculous situation,” he told himself in half-humorous self-contempt. “Six months ago I could think of nothing but travel to strange planets; now all I want is to go home to Earth.”"

"The universe is eight billion years old, the last two billion of which have produced intelligent life. During this time not one hour of absolute equity has prevailed. It should be no surprise to find this basic condition applying to your personal affairs."

"Every second of existence is a new miracle. Consider the countless variations and possibilities that await us every second—avenues into the future. We take only one of these; the others—who knows where they go? This is the eternal marvel, the magnificent uncertainty of the second next to come, with the past a steady unfolding carpet of denouement."

"It was a mess. How could a man think clearly when he could not distinguish between an idiotic subconscious urge and common sense?"

"This was fantastic, insane—contrary to the axioms of her existence."

"The vixen knew no other world than that in her own brain, had no conception that wills could exist in opposition to hers. Amusing now—but what a devil when she grew older!"

"She flushed, her eyes sparkled. “So—you laugh at me!” After an instant of contemplation Joe asked, “Don’t you ever laugh at yourself?” “No. Of course not.” “Try it sometime.”"

"“And the moral?” “It is certainly clear. Things are not always what they seem.”"

"“I am a patriot. I wish to see my planet prosperous, waxing in wealth. I am a man imbued with the culture of my world; I can conceive of no better way of life, and I wish to see this culture expand, enriching itself with the cultures of other worlds, adapting the good, overcoming the bad.” “In other words,” said Joe, “You’re as strenuous an imperialist as your military friends. Only your methods are different.”"

"There can’t be two of me. Sometimes I doubt if there’s even one."

"“Wisdom doesn’t work as well as you might imagine.” “Everything else works much worse,” said Hetzel."

"A surly fellow, Gidion Dirby, who had learned neither wisdom nor tolerance nor generosity from his vicissitudes: the usual order of things. Tragedy was not necessarily ennobling; travail weakened the soul more often than it gave strength."

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

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

"“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.”"

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

"“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."

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

"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?"

"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 less a writer discusses his work—and himself—the better. The master chef slaughters no chickens in the dining room; the doctor writes prescriptions in Latin; the magician hides his hinges, mirrors, and trapdoors with the utmost care."

"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.”"