Eric > Eric's Quotes

“Time passed slowly, like and old man climbing a hill.”
― Roger Zelazny, Lord of Light

“Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards.”
― robert heinlein

“You asked me once,' said O'Brien, 'what was in Room 101. I told you that you knew the answer already. Everyone knows it. The thing that is in Room 101 is the worst thing in the world.”
― George Orwell, 1984

“A religion is a system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing those conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.”
― Clifford D. Simak

“I accepted because mysterious ladies offering bourbon under the stars is very much my aesthetic.”
― Erin Morgenstern, The Starless Sea

“The day of battle dawned pink as the fresh-bitten thigh of a maiden.”
― Roger Zelazny, Lord of Light

“I'm a lost soul. We do wail.”
― Roger Zelazny, Jack of Shadows

“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
― George Orwell

“Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout with some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.”
― George Orwell, Why I Write

“Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.”
― Rudyard Kipling

“I keep six honest serving men (they taught me all i knew); Theirs names are What and Why and When And How And Where and Who.”
― Rudyard Kipling

“I am the Cat who walks by himself, and all places are alike to me.”
― Rudyard Kipling, The Cat That Walked by Himself: And Other Stories

“Nothing stands for content-free corporate bullshit quite like PowerPoint. And that's just scratching the surface...”
― charles stross, The Jennifer Morgue

“Like the famous mad philosopher said, when you stare into the void, the void stares also; but if you cast into the void, you get a type conversion error. (Which just goes to show Nietzsche wasn't a C++ programmer.)”
― Charles Stross, Overtime

“Bunch together a group of people deliberately chosen for strong religious feelings, and you have a practical guarantee of dark morbidities expressed in crime, perversion, and insanity.”
― H. P. Lovecraft

“The puppet thinks:
It’s not so much
what they make me do
as their hands inside me.”
― Charles de Lint

“Time sleeping is always well spent.”
― A.E. Marling, Dream Storm Sea

“I've often thought there ought to be a manual to hand to little kids, telling them what kind of planet they're on, why they don't fall off it, how much time they've probably got here, how to avoid poison ivy, and so on. I tried to write one once. It was called Welcome to Earth. But I got stuck on explaining why we don't fall off the planet. Gravity is just a word. It doesn't explain anything. If I could get past gravity, I'd tell them how we reproduce, how long we've been here, apparently, and a little bit about evolution. I didn't learn until I was in college about all the other cultures, and I should have learned that in the first grade. A first grader should understand that his or her culture isn't a rational invention; that there are thousands of other cultures and they all work pretty well; that all cultures function on faith rather than truth; that there are lots of alternatives to our own society. Cultural relativity is defensible and attractive. It's also a source of hope. It means we don't have to continue this way if we don't like it.”
― Kurt Vonnegut

“There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.

"That's some catch, that Catch-22," he observed.

"It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed.”
― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

“Nostalgia was like a disease, one that crept in and stole the colour from the world and the time you lived in. Made for bitter people. Dangerous people, when they wanted back what never was.”
― Steven Erikson, The Crippled God

“They're trying to kill me," Yossarian told him calmly.
No one's trying to kill you," Clevinger cried.
Then why are they shooting at me?" Yossarian asked.
They're shooting at everyone," Clevinger answered. "They're trying to kill everyone."
And what difference does that make?”
― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

“The Texan turned out to be good-natured, generous and likable. In three days no one could stand him.”
― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

“He ended up teaching middleschool art for a living. That was some soothing shit right there.”
― Scott Hawkins, The Library at Mount Char

“Hold that thought. This sounds like the kind of conversation I’ll need pants for.” It”
― Sam Sykes, An Affinity for Steel: The Aeons' Gate Trilogy

“Hope is ill advised.”
― Sam Sykes, An Affinity for Steel: The Aeons' Gate Trilogy

“A mundane lie hiding an exotic truth is deception; an exotic lie hiding a mundane truth is storytelling. Deception may be necessary to preserve life, but storytelling makes life worth living.”
― Christopher Buehlman

“I want to fall to sleep with you,
and I could care less
whether it is in
layers upon layers
of clothing
or only our skin -
all I really want is to wake up
not knowing
where I end and you begin.”
― Beau Taplin

“The worst thing in the world is having to go back to the dark you shook off.”
― Catherynne M. Valente, Six-Gun Snow White

“Go is to Western chess what philosophy is to double-entry accounting.”
― Trevanian, Shibumi

“Obtuseness was its own defense”
― Trevanian, Shibumi