Great quotes from 34 Science Fiction authors.

[Swede]

I hope this stays in GD.

"You cannot buy the Revolution. You cannot make the Revolution. You can only be the Revolution. It is in your spirit or, it is nowhere." — Shevek's speech to the workers in The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin.


"There's never been a true war that wasn't fought between two sets of people who were certain they were in the right. The really dangerous people believe they are doing whatever they are doing solely and only because it is without question the right thing to do. And that is what makes them dangerous. — Mr. Wednesday in American Gods by Neil Gaiman


"I believe that life is a game, that life is a cruel joke, and that life is what happens when you're alive and that you might as well lie back and enjoy it." — Sam in American Gods by Neil Gaiman

http://io9.com/5579212/words-to-live-by-advice-from-34-science-fictionfantasy-authors?skyline=true&s=i

[spinbaby]

1. From William Tenn

"There's too much beauty in religion to let go of it just because you don't believe in God."

[CBR]

2. My faves...

"In a perfect world everything would be either black or white, right or wrong, and everyone would know the difference. But this isn't a perfect world. The problem is people who think it is." — Unwind by Neil Shusterman.

"You are precisely as big as what you love and precisely as small as what you allow to annoy you." — Robert Anton Wilson

[47of74]

3. From Frank Abatemarco

Not sure if this quite counts or not since it was television, but...

"THERE…ARE…FOUR LIGHTS!" - Picard on Chain of Command Part II.

[localroger]

4. Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent --

Isaac Asimov.

[dickthegrouch]

16. That's been my sig line for months :)

I first read that when I was 10 and have always had it as my central tenet.

[sarge43]

5. Alfred Bester, The Stars My Destination

Gully Folye, "I've handed life and death back to the people who do the living and dying. The common man's been whipped and led long enough by driven men like us ... Compulsive men ... Tiger men who can't help lashing the world before them. We're all tigers ... but who hell are we to make decisions for the world just because we're compulsive? Let the world make its own choice between life and death."

[hobbit709]

10. +1000 One of the classics.

[DonCoquixote]

6. The best quote of all

"To summarize: it is a well-known fact that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it. To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job. To summarize the summary of the summary: people are a problem." Hitchhiker's Guide

[Rosco T.]

7. "Believing takes practice." — A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle

Remember that for the future :)

[customerserviceguy]

8. Robert Heinlein has my favorite ones, involving religion

"History does not record anywhere at any time a religion that has any rational basis. Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unknown without help. But, like dandruff, most people do have a religion and spend time and money on it and seem to derive considerable pleasure from fiddling with it."

Here are some more: http://atheism.about.com/library/quotes/bl_q_RHeinlein.htm

[MicaelS]

9. My favorite Heinlein quote from his very first short story, Lifeline

"There has grown up in the minds of certain groups in this country the notion that because a man or corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number of years, the government and the courts are charged with the duty of guaranteeing such profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary to public interest. This strange doctrine is not supported by statute nor common law."

[hobbit709]

12. Another one

The most preposterous notion that H. sapiens has ever dreamed up is that the Lord God of Creation,
Shaper and Ruler of all the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of His creatures, and becomes
petulant if He does not receive this flattery. Yet this absurd fantasy, without a shred of evidence to bolster it, pays all the expenses of the oldest, largest, and least productive industry in all history.
The second most preposterous notion is that copulation is inherently sinful.

[Warpy]

11. My favorite is by Douglas Adams (of course)

"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?" — Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.

We lost him too soon.

[hobbit709]

13. Heinlein on voting

If you are part of a society that votes, then do so. There may be no candidates and no measures you want
to votefor ... but there are certain to be ones you want to vote against . In case of doubt, vote against. By
this rule you will rarely go wrong.
If this is too blind for your taste, consult some well-meaning fool (there is always one around) and ask
his advice. Then vote the other way. This enables you to be a good citizen (if such is your wish) without
spending the enormous amount of time on it that truly intelligent exercise of franchise requires.

[Touchdown]

14. I like to watch TV.

Chaunsey, the gardener in Being There.

[Swede]

15. Being There - End Credits

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsQ_ClWBeRI

[superconnected]

17. "Indifference and neglect often do more damage than outright dislike", JK Rowling - Harry Potter

book 5

[Motown_Johnny]

18. Asimov is my favorite author so I am bias on this subject.

so...


Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."

"Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right."

— Two epigrams from Salvor Hardin, the first mayor of Terminus, in The Foundation series by Isaac Asimov.





are my favorites posted there, but there are more

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/i/isaac_asimov.html

^snips^


A subtle thought that is in error may yet give rise to fruitful inquiry that can establish truths of great value.


Creationists make it sound as though a 'theory' is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night.


Dalton's records, carefully preserved for a century, were destroyed during the World War II bombing of Manchester. It is not only the living who are killed in war.


I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them.


Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today - but the core of science fiction, its essence has become crucial to our salvation if we are to be saved at all.




There are still more at that link but the rules here prevent me from copying all of them


Edit To Add


When I read about the way in which library funds are being cut and cut, I can only think that American society has found one more way to destroy itself



P.S. He coined the word "Robotics". Sorry Sarah, it is a real word. See the difference?

[The Gunslinger]

19. From Grorge RR Martin

"Rhaegar fought valiantly, Rhaegar fought nobly, Rhaegar fought honorably. And Rhaegar died."

[Prophet 451]

20. Adding my favourites

"People think they want truth and justice for all. What they really want is an assurance that life will go on much as it did before and tomorrow will be much like today" ~ Sir Terry Pratchett

"Where you stand isn't as important as which way you face" ~ Sir Terry Pratchett

"Light thinks it is the fastest thing in the universe but however fast it goes, it always finds the darkness there waiting for it" ~ Sir Terry Pratchett

"Mankind has tried all kinds of ways to ward off evil; prayer, flagellation and so on. Up until Doom, no-one had thought of the double-barrelled shotgun. Eat leaden death, demon" ~ Sir Terry Pratchett

"Faith and reason are the shoes on your feet, you get further on both than you do on one" ~ J. Michael Stryczinski

"Faith manages" ~ J. Michael Stryczinski

"If you can envision a computer more intelligent than the human who designed it, you are a de facto believer in progress" ~ Doug Coupland

"There is no good and evil, there's just fun and boring" ~ Plague, Hackers

[Synicus Maximus]

21. two from Heinlein

"Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors--and miss."

"In a mature society, “civil servant” is semantically equal to “civil master.”

The Notebooks of Lazarus Long

[Jim Lane]

22. From R. A. Lafferty

I don't know the exact work so I can't look it up, must quote from memory and possibly garble it a bit: "The opposite of radical is superficial; the opposite of liberal is stingy; the opposite of conservative is destructive. Therefore I am a radical liberal conservative."