Armada Quotes

“I’d spent my entire life overdosing on uncut escapism, willingly allowing fantasy to become my reality.”
― Ernest Cline, Armada

“Shit!" I heard Diehl shout over the comm. "I just lost my gorram shields because I'm already out of frakkin' power!"
"Dude," Cruz said. "You shouldn't mix swears from different universes.”
― Ernest Cline, Armada

“I know that the future is scary at times. But there's just no escaping it.”
― Ernest Cline, Armada

“If there were other civilizations out there, why would they ever want to make contact with humanity? If this was how we treated each other, how much kindness could we possibly show to some race of bug-eyed beings from beyond?”
― Ernest Cline, Armada

“Now whenever I watched a Star Wars film, I found myself wondering how the Empire had the technology to make long-distance holographic phone calls between planets light-years apart, and yet no one had figured out how to make a remote-controlled TIE Fighter or X-Wing yet.”
― Ernest Cline, Armada

“The only thing crazier than hallucinating a fictional videogame spaceship would be to blame it on a frosted breakfast pastry.”
― Ernest Cline, Armada

“The apple had fallen right next to the crazy tree.”
― Ernest Cline, Armada

“I had been hoping and waiting for some mind-blowingly fantastic, world-altering event to finally shatter the endless monotony of my public education.”
― Ernest Cline, Armada

“You know, sort of like Obi-Wan, watching over Luke while he was growing up on Tatooine.”
“You’re a bold-faced liar like Obi-Wan, too!” I shot back. “That’s for sure.”
Ray’s smile vanished, and his eyes narrowed. “And you’re being a whiny little bitch, just like Luke!”
― Ernest Cline, Armada

“Now I feel bad,” Diehl said. “Like we’re about to nuke Aquaman. Or the Little Mermaid.…”
“Pretend they’re Gungans,” Cruz suggested. “And that we get to nuke Jar Jar.”
― Ernest Cline, Armada

“That’s how you know you’ve mastered a videogame—when a bunch of butt-hurt crybabies start to accuse you of cheating in an effort to cope with the beatdown they’ve just suffered at your hands.”
― Ernest Cline, Armada

“I tried to remain skeptical. I reminded myself that I was a man of science, even if I did usually get a C in it.”
― Ernest Cline, Armada

“Being forced to sit between my mortal enemy and my ex-girlfriend every afternoon made seventh-period math feel like my own private Kobayashi Maru, a brutal no-win scenario designed to test my emotional fortitude.”
― Ernest Cline, Armada

“He died when he was only nineteen years old. I was still a baby at the time, so I didn't remember him. Growing up, I'd always told myself that was lucky. Because you can't miss someone you don't remember.
But the truth was, I did miss him.”
― Ernest Cline , Armada

“We were all probably stuck here for the duration, on the third rock from our sun. Boldly going extinct.”
― Ernest Cline, Armada

“I knew there was probably life elsewhere. But given the vast size and age of the universe, I also knew how astronomically unlikely it was we would ever make contact with it, much less within the narrow window of my own lifetime. We were all probably stuck here for the duration, on the third rock from our sun. Boldly going extinct.”
― Ernest Cline, Armada

“I had spent hundreds of hours gazing out at the calm, conquered suburban landscape surrounding my school, silently yearning for the outbreak of a zombie apocalypse, a freak accident that would give me super powers, or perhaps the sudden appearance of a band of time-traveling kleptomaniac dwarves.”
― Ernest Cline, Armada

“No, we always get killed because of you, Leeroy Jenkins!”
― Ernest Cline, Armada

“The bastard even refused to watch E.T.! Who doesn’t love E.T., I ask you?”
― Ernest Cline, Armada

“I spent a few more minutes puzzling over the timeline before turning my attention to the notebook’s first page, which contained a pencil drawing of an old-school coin-operated arcade game—one I didn’t recognize. Its control panel featured a single joystick and one unlabeled white button, and its cabinet was entirely black, with no side art or other markings anywhere on it, save for the game’s strange title, which was printed in all capital green letters across its jet black marquee: POLYBIUS. Below his drawing of the game, my father had made the following notations: No copyright or manufacturer info anywhere on game cabinet. Reportedly only seen for 1–2 weeks in July 1981 at MGP. Gameplay was similar to Tempest. Vector graphics. Ten levels? Higher levels caused players to have seizures, hallucinations, and nightmares. In some cases, subject committed murder and/or suicide. “Men in Black” would download scores from the game each night. Possible early military prototype created to train gamers for war? Created by same covert op behind Bradley Trainer?”
― Ernest Cline, Armada

“This human understands enough to know when he’s being messed with.”
― Ernest Cline, Armada

“I’m a gamer, Zack. Like you. When I find myself confronted with a puzzle, I can’t help but try to solve it.”
― Ernest Cline, Armada

“You cannot escape your destiny,’ ”
― Ernest Cline, Armada

“Maybe they seeded life on Earth millions of years ago, and now they're here to punish us for turning out to be such a lame species and inventing reality TV and shit?”
― Ernest Cline, Armada

“I knew Knotcher was trying to push my buttons. Unfortunately, he'd pushed the big red one first.”
― Ernest Cline, Armada

“As I watched them embrace, there on the front lawn, my heart was rocked by waves of unbridled joy. It occurred to me that up until this moment I’d only ever experienced the bridled kind.”
― Ernest Cline, Armada

“I tried to slip past her again, but she blocked my path and then stomped her foot down in front of me again, pretending like she was Gandalf and I was the balrog.”
― Ernest Cline, Armada

“A mission where you have to blow up a Death Star while being attacked by two Borg Cubes inside an asteroid field?”
― Ernest Cline, Armada

“Mr. S was finally retiring this year, which was a good thing, because he appeared to have run out of shits to give sometime in the previous century.”
― Ernest Cline, Armada

“I was staring out the classroom window and daydreaming of adventure when I spotted the flying saucer.”
― Ernest Cline, Armada