Alastair Reynolds > Quotes

“A city's only ever three hot meals away from anarchy.”
― Alastair Reynolds, Terminal World

“You worry that we're becoming monsters. Merlin, we already were monsters. You didn't make us any worse.”
― Alastair Reynolds, Thousandth Night And Minla's Flowers

“Enjoy it, kid. Enjoy feeling that you can make a difference.' Floyd flashed him a smile. 'It won't last for ever.”
― Alastair Reynolds, Century Rain

“I think I've reduced the amount of blood in my caffeine system to an acceptable level.”
― Alastair Reynolds

“At one time, the treatment for a certain kind of psychosis had been to push an ice pick up through the orbit of the eye, into the frontal lobe; the ice pick was then stirred around until it reduced the problematic brain tissue to non-functioning porridge.”
― Alastair Reynolds, Terminal World

“It looked like a biology lesson for gods, or a snapshot of the kind of pornography which might be enjoyed by sentient planets.”
― Alastair Reynolds, Revelation Space

“As the old saying went, the Manhattan Project wasn't built in a day. Or was that Rome? Something to do with Earth, anyway.”
― Alastair Reynolds

“There's a vorg loose," Meroka explained. "In case that escaped your attention. Ricasso's doing his bit for Swarm, trying to kill the thing before it sucks someone's brains out. Now he might be able to find time in his schedule to file that paperwork you need, but I'm guessing it's going to be a stretch, what with a monster on the loose and the ship being in a state of fucking emergency and all." She smiled sweetly. "So, what's it going to be? You going to let them out, or do I have to get, you know, truculent.”
― Alastair Reynolds, Terminal World

“The two men -- Fray and Malkin -- were standing near each other. They were not unarmed. They were quite seriously not unarmed. Both men were carrying -- or at least aiming -- what could only be categorised as small artillery pieces: two bulky gas-powered spinguns, so heavy that they had to be strapped to their bodies via thick leather girdles. Malkin was aiming at the angels, more or less.”
― Alastair Reynolds, Terminal World

“My people are impressing on Tulwar's people the wisdom of surrender and a rapid shift of allegiance. I'm counting on most them being opportunist thugs who'll recognize a good thing when it's offered to them.”
― Alastair Reynolds, Terminal World

“History is what we write, not what we remember. Why should we tarnish the memory of our planet by enshrining our less then noble deeds?”
― Alastair Reynolds, Thousandth Night And Minla's Flowers

“How did you . . . pass the time?’ Sunday asked. ‘You couldn’t just ching out of it, could you?’

‘We had a different form of chinging,’ Eunice said. ‘An earlier type of virtual-reality technology, much more robust and completely unaffected by time lag. You may have heard of it. We called it “reading”.”
― Alastair Reynolds, Blue Remembered Earth

“Partnerka Clavaina została chirurgicznie zmodyfikowana w ten sposób, że mogła przyjąć w macicy żywy mózg po operacji będącej prostym odwróceniem cesarskiego cięcia - zabieg wykonywał Clavain. Ciało mężczyzny zostawili na miejscu, by znaleźli je strażnicy. Następnie Hybrydowcy sklonowali dla tego człowieka nowe ciało i wpakowali do środka ciężko doświadczony mózg.”
― Alastair Reynolds, Redemption Ark

“Dimly--at first wary that it was merely a dislodged fragment of the dream--she remembered Resurgam. And then, slowly, events returned, not as a tidal wave, or even as as landslide, but as a slow, squelching slippage: a disembowelment of the past.”
― Alastair Reynolds, Revelation Space

“Cyphel knew exactly how he felt about her as well — it was there in her expression whenever they spoke that beguiling combination of amusement and haughtiness that she carried off so well. It was a look that expressed disdain at Campion’s guarded advances but also a kind of measured probationary respect as well. It was a look that said You dare to think that I will find you as interesting as you obviously find me Well perhaps in that very act of daring you become interesting to me if only fleetingly.”
― Alastair Reynolds

“I've seen marvelous things, Sunday. I've looked back from the edge of the system and seen this planet, this Earth, reduced to a tiny dot of pale blue. I know what that feels like. To think that dot is where we came from, where we evolved out of the chaos and the dirt. And I know what it feels like to imagine going further. To hold that incredible, dangerous thought in my mind, if only for an instant. To think: what if I don't go home? What if I just keep traveling? Watching that pale-blue dot fall ever further away, until the darkness swallowed it and there was no turning back. Until Earth was just a blue memory.”
― Alastair Reynolds, Blue Remembered Earth