Larry Niven

"There’s a fine line between sensible emotional restraint, and the withdrawal symptoms of a stimulus junkie denied her fix."

"The Gamers are so out of touch with reality that they were never considered a serious threat."

"“I am Yali, and I would like to welcome you to Heaven. I hope you will enjoy your stay.” He laughed heartily, as at a private joke. “Yes, I most certainly hope you do. After all, some of you may stay forever. It is a nice place, actually, one of those infinitely rare situations where one is rewarded commensurately to one’s efforts. Surely that is Heaven by any man’s definition?”"

"“It looks as if this whole place was designed by pulling random pages out of 1950’s women’s magazines.” “Frightening, isn’t it?”"

"Have you been wondering just where we are? After all, theologians have debated for centuries over the exact location of Heaven. Some have said that Heaven can be found beyond the stars. Some say it exists in the heart of Man, and others claim that it does not exist at all, that God is dead, or at least unemployed."

"It was a light, brief kiss, but it was less an ending than a promise, and he was happy."

"Massive success and massive inertia are two sides of a coin."

"Mankind had come so far in some ways, and in others remained up in the trees, chittering and throwing rocks at each other. If only the trees weren’t so close together. If only the rocks were smaller."

"“We go and pray! Gods must help,” Alura said almost calmly. “Have they ever helped before?” Max asked hopefully. “No.” Her shaggy blond head gave a mournful wag. Then she smiled ingenuously. “But maybe we pray wrong!”"

"She may look like a flake, but there’s somebody home in that head."

"Perhaps the lines of nationalism and factionalism and every other goddamn “ism” in the world had reduced the chances for this weary planet. Or not. Nuclear devices had existed for over a century, and only four of them had ever been used in anger. This could be interpreted as proof of divine intervention, good luck, a sign that the human race was growing up, or ominous portent, depending upon one’s standing in the “half-empty, half-full” school of cocktail-party philosophy."

"“Ah…if it’s not a glitch, and Welles seems certain that it’s not a glitch, then…what is it?” “A glitch. People who say that they have all the bugs usually haven’t turned over enough rocks.”"

"Two thousand years of civilization does not undo a million years of genetics."

"I want a scotch and water. If I can’t have that, leave out the water."

"“Last coffee I had was on the tube out from Denver.” He made a face. Hippogryph was willing. “That bad?” “Let’s put it this way. I had the concierge send it out to a lab. Got a call back saying ‘Congratulations, your moose is pregnant.’”"

"“What’s it like being dead?” Hebert asked. “Not bad, really,” Wood Owl answered after a moment’s consideration. “Like waiting for a tax refund, only slower.”"

"“That’s pretty minor. What kind of Gods are these?” “Petty, like all Gods. On the other hand, there’s no penalty at all for masturbation.” “I’m changing religions,” Kevin said positively."

"“I didn’t know you were such a fighter,” Eviane said. “Yeah, well, neither did I.” She smiled shyly. “Does that make a big difference?” he asked hesitantly. “Always,” she said. She stared at that bank of fog as if it concealed answers to every important question. “Oh, girls say that they want strong sensitive men. When we can’t find both, we settle for strong.” Some part of him resented that. “Evolution in action?” She nodded. “Sure. Deep down inside, we all know that something like this could happen. That the civilization we’d spent so much time and money building up could all come toppling down. And if it did, what would get us through is strength.” “Not just physical strength, though.”"

"One bad, stupid decision could twist a life completely out of true."

"Isn’t the history of human interaction the conversion of neighbors into enemies? Or into nonhumans, that we might deprive them of said chattels, or life itself?"

"We don’t break rules, but we bend the hell out of them."

"It was a bad omen. Glitches were a lot like cockroaches. If you didn’t catch them in time, they’d scuttle off into someplace dark and warm and begin to breed."

"Whatever benefits voodoo conferred, intellectual agility was not among them."

"Nice to know that he had the gods on his side. Better make sure the lawyers were there, too."

"In certain video games, it is impossible to win. All you can do is survive as long as you can, piling up points, until you are eventually dragged down and killed. Much like life itself?"

"“What the hell is this?” Acacia asked. Tammi examined a necklace of human teeth. “Looks like a cross between a santería minimart and a head shop.”"

"As I said before, Mr. Fleming, we understand terrorists. There are two things to remember in dealing with them. First: we must never accede to their demands. Second: those of us who abhor their actions must be prepared to stand together against them."

"Everybody was talking and nobody was communicating."

"“You think that you are the great man because you know all of these things.” He waved his arms at the panels and the dials surrounding them, and out the windows to the stars beyond. He shook his head. “Poor foolish man. Do you really think that these things matter? No, you are nothing but a driver, a highly-paid, educated servant. The real decisions, the real power will always be with the men who understand money. And we will always own men like you.”"

"Sometimes you just have to be satisfied with what you are."

"“Turning into a tradition, isn’t it?” “Around here, anything that happens twice is a tradition.”"

"“They should give medals for this, Martinez.” “By the time the paperwork goes through, we’ll both be dead and gone.” “Too true.”"

"“I couldn’t sit here and tell you that I’m sorry it happened.” “Even with the death…?” “Everybody dies. The obstetrician slaps you on the ass with one hand and hands you a postdated death certificate with the other. What’s important is that our children have a better chance. It’s always been about the children. Always. Women have never loved being kept from education and treated as second-class citizens. Men have never enjoyed having their balls shot off in wars. Men and women didn’t fall into their roles accidentally, and each side doesn’t hate the other. It happened because for a thousand generations, that was the best way we knew to build a civilization, to build a better future for our children. The industrial revolution doomed slavery—racial, sexual, social. Civilization is worth fighting for.”"

"The difference between a good man and a bad one is the choice of cause."

"Avalon was neutral. The children of Earth might die, they might thrive. Avalon would embrace their bones or the progeny with equal warmth."

"Cooking was creation itself; It seemed to put the universe in perspective."

"“I copied it.” “Sure you did, joker, but they drew what they thought you wanted and you copied what you thought you saw—”"

"Sex was a game nobody lost."

"What’s intelligence for if not for seeking knowledge?"

"“It’s a joy,” she said, “watching you keep your mouth shut.”"

"We follow the scientists around and look over their shoulders. They're watching their feet: provable mistakes are bad for them. We're looking as far ahead as we can, and we don't get penalized for mistakes."

"The wealth of the universe is all over your head. We need to take command of the solar system to gain that wealth, and to escape the sea of paper our government is becoming, and for some decent chance of stopping a Dinosaur Killer asteroid."

"We've fallen way behind. Building one space station for everyone was and is insane: we should have built a dozen."

"Cheap superconductors imply maglev trains everywhere. Computers could get big again, with RAM/ROM rising by powers of forty and fifty, if superconductors shed the heat. Laser handguns against superconducting armor. I'm not predicting; I just love playing with superconductors."

"Here is where the predictions failed: We didn't take Cargo Cult mentality into account: "if somebody has something I don't, he must have stolen it." We didn't understand how good we could get at communication — when you have something that someone else doesn't, the whole damn planet knows it."

"1a) Never throw shit at an armed man. 1b) Never stand next to someone who is throwing shit at an armed man."

"2) Never fire a laser at a mirror."

"3) Mother Nature doesn't care if you're having fun."

"4) Giving up freedom for security has begun to look naive. Even to me. Many of you were ahead of me on this — Three out of four hijacked airplanes destroyed the World Trade Center and a piece of the Pentagon in 2001. How is it possible that those planes were taken using only five perps armed with knives? It was possible because all those hundreds of passengers had been carefully stripped of every possible weapon. We may want to reconsider this approach. It doesn't work in high schools either."

"5) Psi and/or magical powers, if real, are nearly useless."