The Collapsing Empire Quotes

“You threw him into space?” “Yup.” “And he didn’t die?” “We only threw him out a little bit.” Marce”
― John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire

“I’m continually confronted with the human tendency to ignore or deny facts until the last possible instant. And then for several days after that, too.” Attavio”
― John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire

“That’s the human brain,” Attavio VI said. “It creates patterns when there aren’t any. Imagines causality when there is none. Imagines a narrative where none exists. It’s in the design of the brain itself. It’s primed to lie.” “And primed to believe the lie.”
― John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire

“Cardenia gawked at Rachela I. “You’re unbelievable.” “I worked in marketing,” Rachela I said. “Before I was a prophet. After, too, but we didn’t call it that after that point.”
― John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire

“Weren’t we having a mutiny?”
― John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire

“It’s just a reminder that war favors the rich. The ones who can leave, do. The ones who can’t, suffer.” Kiva was silent for a moment. Then, “Fuck you for having a conscience, Tomi.”
― John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire

“I’m continually confronted with the human tendency to ignore or deny facts until the last possible instant. And then for several days after that, too.”
― John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire

“Even without the Interdependency, being interdependent was the best way for humanity to survive.”
― John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire

“The answer to that is complicated.” “Give me the short version.” “The short version is ‘Yes, but.’ The slightly longer version is ‘No, and.’ Which version would you like?”
― John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire

“I worked in marketing,” Rachela I said. “Before I was a prophet. After, too, but we didn’t call it that after that point.”
― John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire

“Anyone can be a prophet. You just have to say that what you’re talking about is a reflection of God. Or of the gods. Or of some divine spirit. However you want to put it. Whether those things come true isn’t one way or another about it.”
― John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire

“That’s the human brain,” Attavio VI said. “It creates patterns when there aren’t any. Imagines causality when there is none. Imagines a narrative where none exists. It’s in the design of the brain itself. It’s primed to lie.”
― John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire

“I don’t know that it will matter even then,” Cardenia said. “I’m continually confronted with the human tendency to ignore or deny facts until the last possible instant. And then for several days after that, too.”
― John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire

“It’s not whether she tells everyone,” Huma said. “It’s whether they believe her.” “It’s the truth.” “Oh, my daughter,” Huma said, and smiled. “Don’t tell me you don’t know how little that actually means.”
― John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire

“something funny, Lord Marce?” asked a young woman, standing in front of a desk. She was wearing imperial green. This was clearly the emperox, and equally clearly he’d just blown his entrance. He bowed. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty,” he said. “I was surprised by your office.” “How so?” “I … well. Ma’am. It looks like a museum exploded inside of it.” Obelees Atek sucked in her breath and apparently was now waiting for the emperox to sentence him to a beheading. Instead she laughed, openly, loudly. “Thank you,” she said, with emphasis.”
― John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire

“Stop whining like a fucking child.” “You could have just said, ‘I need your help.’” “All right. I need your help. Stop whining like a fucking child.” “That’s not better.”
― John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire

“Is something funny, Lord Marce?” asked a young woman, standing in front of a desk. She was wearing imperial green. This was clearly the emperox, and equally clearly he’d just blown his entrance. He bowed. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty,” he said. “I was surprised by your office.” “How so?” “I … well. Ma’am. It looks like a museum exploded inside of it.”
― John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire

“Was this true?” “I am a search function. I do not have opinions on political matters.”
― John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire

“(As a second side note, I will also note that the title of this book—The Collapsing Empire—was not intended as a commentary on the current state of the United States, the UK, or of Western Civilization in general. I thought it up years ago. It just happened to look like commentary because, let’s face it, 2016 was a historically fucked-up year, and I can only hope 2017 is going to be better. Because if it’s not, it really is time to head to the bunkers with our barrels of beans and rice.)”
― John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire

“The short version is ‘Yes, but.’ The slightly longer version is ‘No, and.’ Which version would you like?”
― John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire

“It was breathtaking the situations that humans put themselves into, and still managed to thrive.”
― John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire

“It can take five years for a piece of news to go from one end of space to the other, and the story’s going to change in the telling. So you don’t listen to the story. You listen to the pattern. And right now, the pattern is, weird fucking shit going on with the Flow.”
― John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire

“There’s no but. You’re right. It’s just a reminder that war favors the rich. The ones who can leave, do. The ones who can’t, suffer.”
― John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire

“It’s the truth.” “Oh, my daughter,” Huma said, and smiled. “Don’t tell me you don’t know how little that actually means.”
― John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire

“No one wants the Interdependency to end. Including the House of Wu. There’s too much money and power at stake,” Attavio VI said. “And the survival of humanity doesn’t matter?” Cardenia asked, incredulously. “Not if it means the end of the Interdependency.”
― John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire

“People don’t mind having the mystical aspect of a church being poorly defined as long as you make the rules of the church clear.”
― John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire

“In the Interdependency, with its religious and social ethos of interconnectedness combined with a guild-centered, monopolistic economy, they’d created possibly the most ridiculously complex method of ensuring the survival of the species they could have devised. Bolting on a formal caste system of nobles intertwined with a merchant class, and common workers underneath, complicated proceedings even further. And yet it worked. It worked because on a social level, apparently enough people wanted it to, and because at the heart of it, billions of humans living in fragile habitats prone to mechanical and environmental breakdowns and degradation, and with limited natural resources, were better off relying on each other than trying to go it alone. Even without the Interdependency, being interdependent was the best way for humanity to survive. Except”
― John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire

“Can I just wrap up this whole line of conversation by saying I really don’t give a shit whether you’re upset? If you were actually hurt, or dead, then I’d say sorry. But you’re not, so suck it up.”
― John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire

“To be fair, the House of Lagos let loose a virus that wiped out a staple crop.” “To be fair, you can go fuck yourself because we had nothing to do with that and you know it.” “I’ve missed you, Kiva. You and your marvelous way with the word ‘fuck.’” “No you haven’t, but thank you anyway.” Ghreni”
― John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire

“Despite the fact that he fully intended to be one of them, Marce managed to feel resentment toward them, toward the people who could, in fact, leave their problems behind through the simple application of money.”
― John Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire