People From San Francisco

"“Sir Tristano spoke: “Stop! You are taking the great green pearl!” “Naturally!” said the voice from a point close behind. “That is the whole point of robbery: to acquire the victim’s valuables!”"

"A notable scheme has occurred to me."

"“Are you yourself a Christian?” The young man made a negative sign. “The concepts of religion baffle me.” “This inscrutability is perhaps not unintentional,” said the ex-priest. “It gives endless employment to dialecticians who otherwise might become public charges or, at very worst, swindlers and tricksters.”"

"Die then. This is my cure for sore knees."

"The colour, noise and festivity failed to elevate Carfilhiot’s mood; in fact—so he told himself—never had he witnessed so much pointless nonsense."

"What a strange and unfamiliar world if everyone were treated according to his deserts!"

"Who is seducing whom? If we are working to the same ends, there is no need for so many cross-purposes."

"Kings, like children, tend to be opportunistic. Generosity only spoils them. They equate affability with weakness and hasten to exploit it."

"Aillas groaned. “Destiny could never be so unkind.” Suldrun said in a soft voice: “Destiny doesn’t really care.”"

"Nothing is more conspicuous than a farting princess."

"“I am not skilled at inventing punishments.” “Nor are they to my taste. I enjoy creating conditions of justice. All too often, however, I must ordain harsh penalties. It is the disagreeable side to my work. The preferences of the criminal, of course, can’t be considered; as often as not, he will opt for leniency even no punishment whatever.”"

"“I wonder, sir, if you’d be good enough to advise me.” “Certainly, within the limits of discretion,” said Eubanq. “I should warn you, however, that free advice is usually not worth its cost.”"

"The words must be spoken. The thoughts must be thought. The plans must be planned. The deeds must be done."

"“Still, moderation, I beg of all of you!” “But not too much of it!” Dobbo called out. “We’d be defeating only ourselves. Moderation must be practiced in moderation.”"

"“Why not cancel the affair? There’ll be opportunities in the future.” “But I’m not confident of the future! It’s a spinning top which can totter in any direction!”"

"It is all sheer egocentricity: the myth of self triumphant over destiny!"

"Every Arrabin desperately asserts his individuality, with personal tricks and fads. A futile kind of life, no doubt, but isn’t all life futile?"

"Jantiff gave a hollow laugh. “Who now is the exploiter, monopolist, elitist tycoon and all the rest? What of egalism now?” Esteban retorted in a debonair, if somewhat edgy, voice: “Egalism is all very well, and I subscribe to it! Still: why deny the obvious? Everyone wants to make the most of their life.”"

"“It’s not a knack at all,” said Jantiff. “I’ve had to practice for years.” Tanzel said brightly: “Isn’t it elitism when someone tries to do something better can everyone else?”"

"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."