David Brin > Quotes

“When it comes to privacy and accountability, people always demand the former for themselves and the latter for everyone else.”
― David Brin

“It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power.”
― David Brin

“Creative people see Prometheus in a mirror, never Pandora.”
― David Brin, Brightness Reef

“Where subtlety fails us we must simply make do with cream pies.”
― David Brin, The Uplift War

“Prison for the crime of puberty -- that was how secondary school had seemed.”
― David Brin, Earth

“Only people with full stomachs become environmentalists.”
― David Brin, Earth

“The best time to act on this was decades ago. The second best time is now.”
― David Brin

“Reciprocal accountability, or criticism [is] the only known antidote to error.”
― David Brin

“Beware of self-indulgence. The romance surrounding the writing profession carries several myths: that one must suffer in order to be creative; that one must be cantankerous and objectionable in order to be bright; that ego is paramount over skill; that one can rise to a level from which one can tell the reader to go to hell. These myths, if believed, can ruin you.
If you believe you can make a living as a writer, you already have enough ego.”
― David Brin

“Change is the very fabric of our time.”
― David Brin

“In the end, the work of diplomats continues even while others fight. So, it's not necessarily true that everyone needs to march.”
― David Brin

“Only a knowledgeable, empowered and vocal citizenry can perform well in democracy.”
― david brin

“If there are still honest-smart men and women within those old and noble traditions, they should think carefully, observe and diagnose the illness. They should face the contradiction. Discuss the conflation. And then do as Warren Buffett and Bill Gates and many others have done. Choose the miracle of creative competition over an idolatry of cash.

They should stand up..”
― David Brin

“It's said that 'power corrupts,' but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power. When they do act, they think of it as service, which has limits. The tyrant, though, seeks mastery, for which he is insatiable, implacable.”
― David Brin, The Postman

“The village is coming back, like it or not.”
― David Brin, Tomorrow Happens

“Self-awareness is probably overrated. A complex, self-regulating system doesn't need it in order to be successful, or even smart.”
― David Brin, Earth

“...where were answers to the truly deep questions? Religion promised those, though always in vague terms, while retreating from one line in the sand to the next. Don't look past this boundary, they told Galileo, then Hutton, Darwin, Von Neumann, and Crick, always retreating with great dignity before the latest scientific advance, then drawing the next holy perimeter at the shadowy rim of knowledge.”
― David Brin, Kiln People

“... science demands a terrible price - that we accept what experiments tell us about the universe, whether we like it or not.”
― David Brin, Existence

“While I have the floor, here's a question that's been bothering me for some time. Why do so few writers of heroic or epic fantasy ever deal with the fundamental quandary of their novels . . . that so many of them take place in cultures that are rigid, hierarchical, stratified, and in essence oppressive? What is so appealing about feudalism, that so many free citizens of an educated commonwealth like ours love reading about and picturing life under hereditary lords?

Why should the deposed prince or princess in every clichéd tale be chosen to lead the quest against the Dark Lord? Why not elect a new leader by merit, instead of clinging to the inbred scions of a failed royal line? Why not ask the pompous, patronizing, "good" wizard for something useful, such as flush toilets, movable type, or electricity for every home in the kingdom? Given half a chance, the sons and daughters of peasants would rather not grow up to be servants. It seems bizarre for modern folk to pine for a way of life our ancestors rightfully fought desperately to escape.”
― David Brin, Glory Season

“Indeed, the maligned American pastime of baseball may be by-far the greatest and best sport by one criterion, when it comes to emulating and training for genuinely useful Neolithic skills! Think about it. The game consists of lots of patient waiting and watching (stalking), throwing with incredible accuracy and speed, sprinting, dodging... and hitting moving objects real hard with clubs! And arguing. Hey, what else could you possibly need? Now, tell me, how do soccer or basketball prepare you to survive in the wild, hm?”
― David Brin

“We aren’t a curse upon the world. We are her new eyes. Her brain, testes, ovaries . . . her ambition and her heart. Her voice. So sing. (556)”
― David Brin, Existence

“Cultural contamination that is directed outward is always seen as ‘enlightenment.”
― David Brin, Glory Season

“Information is not like money or any other commodity. The cracks that it can slip through are almost infinitely small, and it can be duplicated at almost zero cost. Soon information will be like air, like the weather, and as easy to control.”
― David Brin, Tomorrow Happens

“As sci-fi writer Theodore Sturgeon said, 90 percent of everything is crap. But science fiction has not been forgiven for its crap. The reason is that science fiction inherently distrusts the 'eternal verities' on which literature graduates base their doctoral dissertations. Literature departments were uncomfortable with that. But things change.”
― David Brin

“True brilliance has a well-known positive correlation with decency, much of the time--a fact the rest of us rely on, more than we ever know. The real world doesn't roil with as many crazed artists, psychotic generals, dyspeptic writers, maniacal statesmen, insatiable tycoons, or mad scientists as you see in dramas.”
― David Brin, Kiln People

“The species greatest harvest ― words.”
― David Brin, Earth

“Freedom was wonderful beyond relief. But with it came that bitch, Duty.”
― David Brin, The Postman

“In good times, pessimism is a luxury; but in bad times, pessimism is a self-fulfilling and fatal prophecy.”
― David Brin, Existence

“It is a total mystery how we evolved minds capable of piloting cars through wild maneuvers using a wrist to steep while shouting at a cell phone. The creationists are fools for focusing on animal evolution. Darwin explains nature! He has more difficulty explaining us.”
― David Brin

“Generalization is a natural human mental process, and many generalizations are true—in average. What often does promote evil behavior is the lazy, nasty habit of believing that generalizations have anything at all to do with individuals.”
― David Brin, Glory Season