Robert > Robert's Quotes

“You don't stop playing because you grow old.

You grow old because you stop playing. ”
― BOB

“The world could bring you poison in a jewelled cup, or surprising gifts. Sometimes you didn't know which of them it was.”
― Guy Gavriel Kay, Under Heaven

“A hard truth: that courage can be without meaning or impact, need not be rewarded, or even known. The world has not been made in that way. Perhaps, however, within the self there might come a resonance, the awareness of having done something difficult, of having done . . . something.”
― Guy Gavriel Kay, The Last Light of the Sun

“Sometimes you didn't really arrive at a conclusion about your life, you just discovered that you already had.”
― Guy Gavriel Kay, Lord of Emperors

“I will not say I am sorry, but I can tell you that I grieve.”
― Guy Gavriel Kay, Tigana

“Some writers later, describing the events of that night and day, wrote that Wan'yen of the Altai had seen a spirit-dragon of the river and become afraid. Writers do that sort of thing. They like dragons in their tales.”
― Guy Gavriel Kay, River of Stars

“There are so many stories, she thinks, and most of them end up lost.”
― Guy Gavriel Kay, River of Stars

“Lazy poets try to elicit a reader's response with words designed to tug at the heart.”
― Guy Gavriel Kay, River of Stars

“He wasn't a poet, not everyone is.”
― Guy Gavriel Kay, River of Stars

“You’d never killed anyone. Then you had.”
― Guy Gavriel Kay, River of Stars

“To succeed, planning alone is insufficient. One must improvise as well.”
― Isaac Asimov, Foundation

“Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.”
― Isaac Asimov, Foundation

“There are only two things, he said to me, that survive and pass through the taints and decays and corruptions of this world unscathed and unchanged: God and gold. And one of them is all around us every day, in everything and comprised in and comprising everything, and the other one is very rare, and has to be crushed and sweated out of a rock or sifted, tiny speck by tiny speck, from the stinking silt of a riverbed. Guess which one people value the most.”
― Jonathan Strahan, The Book of Dragons

“David often lectured Tom upon the responsibilities of parenthood which annoyed Tom who considered himself to be a quite exemplary fairy parent. He provided generously for his children and grandchildren and only in exceptional circumstances had any of them put to death.”
― Susanna Clarke

“except that if things go wrong in a siege you’ll all die horribly, and in formal weddings, the stakes are much higher.”
― T. Kingfisher, A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking

“They flapped carelessly beneath the air of an oscillating copper fan, its spinning blades rattling inside its cage as if trying to get out. And somehow, still, it was stifling in here,”
― P. Djèlí Clark, The Haunting of Tram Car 015

“survival has never really been the province of the fittest. Merely the hungriest.”
― N.K. Jemisin, How Long 'til Black Future Month?

“They hate what it does, yet Ultimate Corp continues doing it. It’s something more than human, by Allah. It’s the beast, a djinn. Fire and air, insubstantial, but very real. Human beings created it, but they will never control it.”
― Nnedi Okorafor, Noor

“Because that is how one survives eternity,” I say, “or even a few years. Friends. Family. Moving with them. Moving forward.”
― N.K. Jemisin, The Stone Sky

“It was Claire’s job to keep the books ready for their authors in the best possible state. Tidy. Stories were never tidy, but it was important to keep up appearances.”
― A.J. Hackwith, The Library of the Unwritten

“If we wait for a landlord who will not eat us for his own benefit we’ll be realmless forever, Rami. Leto told me about this once; it’s called capitalism.”
― A.J. Hackwith, The God of Lost Words

“Some things come into being once it’s inevitable that they will exist.”
― T. Kingfisher, Nettle & Bone

“The tunnel is about 20 feet long. Or 7 meters. Man, being an American scientist sucks sometimes. You think in random, unpredictable units based on what situation you’re in.”
― Andy Weir, Project Hail Mary

“Yet here we still are. Were we supposed to mope about our imminent death all that time? I don’t think I have that much moping in me.”
― N.K. Jemisin, The World We Make

“You need to believe in yourself more, kunju. Why can’t you be more like that nice lady from Brooklyn? She’s an avatar and a city councilwoman. So accomplished.”
― N.K. Jemisin, The World We Make

“I’m not going to let her go, Charlie, even if I have to nail her to a desk.’ ‘An innovative solution to our staffing difficulties, ma’am, and, simultaneously, a warning to the rest of us.’ Hay’s hand drifted towards her paper knife. ‘I’m so sorry, ma’am – did I say warning? Obviously, I meant inspiration.”
― Jodi Taylor, Saving Time

“Goddamn, XO, they sure do keep their shit squeaky clean,” Amos said behind him. “Ain’t much to do on a long flight for most of the crew, Amos,” Alex said. “So when you aren’t doin’ somethin’ else, you clean.” “See, that’s why I work haulers,” Amos said. “Clean decks or get drunk and screw, and I’ve got a preference.”
― James S.A. Corey, Leviathan Wakes

“A world no longer of the haves and the have-nots, but of the engaged and the apathetic.”
― James S.A. Corey, Caliban's War

“We’re getting ready to trade our solar system away because we thought we could build airports out of bamboo and summon the cargo.”
― James S.A. Corey, Caliban's War

“Dreams were fragile things to build with. Titanium and ceramic lasted longer.”
― James S.A. Corey, Tiamat's Wrath