Tau Zero Quotes

“Their flight was not less exhilarating for being explainable.”
― Poul Anderson, Tau Zero

“They talked business for half an hour. (Centuries passed beyond the hull.)”
― Poul Anderson, Tau Zero

“I'm only certain that nothing is forever. No matter how carefully you design a system, it will go bad and die.”
― Poul Anderson, Tau Zero

“The fact is, man has never stayed by a single ideal. The mass enthusiasm when you were young gave way to cool, rationalistic classicism. Today that’s being drowned in turn by a kind of neoromanticism. God knows where that will lead. I probably won’t approve. Regardless, new generations grow up. We’ve no right to freeze them into our own mold. The universe is too wide.”
― Poul Anderson, Tau Zero

“we can't go on ... having regular bowel movements ... while creation happens!”
― Poul Anderson, Tau Zero

“sed quis custodiet ipsos Custodes?”
― Poul Anderson, Tau Zero

“for a moment infinitesimal and infinite, men, women, child, ship, and death were one. It”
― Poul Anderson, Tau Zero

“Momentarily a wing of zodiacal radiance could be seen, like a halo over the rising fire-disk.”
― Poul Anderson, Tau Zero

“Who can we trust with a monopoly of the planet killer weapons and unlimited powers of inspection and arrest? Why, a country big and modern enough to make peace-keeping a major industry; but not big enough to conquer anyone else or force its will on anyone without the support of a majority of nations; and reasonably well thought of by everyone. In short, Sweden.”
― Poul Anderson, Tau Zero

“And if you were not trained, the lesser members of the galaxy that had become visible were so many as to drown the familiar constellations. The night was wild with suns.”
― Poul Anderson, Tau Zero

“What is man, that he should outlive his god?”
― Poul Anderson, Tau Zero

“Once a crisis is past, once people can manage for themselves … what better can a king do for them than take off his crown?”
― Poul Anderson, Tau Zero

“My God—very literally, my God—we can’t go on … having regular bowel movements … while creation happens!”
― Poul Anderson, Tau Zero

“And the Milky Way belted heaven with ice and silver, and the Magellanic Clouds were not vague shimmers but roiling and glowing; and the Andromeda galaxy gleamed sharp across more than a million light-years; and you felt your soul drowning in those depths and hastily pulled your vision back to the snug cabin that held you.”
― Poul Anderson, Tau Zero

“The human animal wants a father-mother image but, at the same time, resents being disciplined. You can get stability like this: The ultimate authority source is kept remote, god-like, practically unapproachable. Your immediate superior is a mean son-of-a-bitch who makes you toe the mark and whom you therefore detest. But his own superior is as kind and sympathetic as rank allows ... The end result is that Captain Telander's been isolated. His infallibility doesn't have to cope with essentially unfixable human messes ... I'm the traditional top sergeant. Hard, harsh, demanding, overbearing, inconsiderate, brutal. Not so bad as to start a petition for my removal. But enough to irritate, be disliked, although respected. That's good for the troops. It's healthier to be mad at me than to dwell on personal woes... [First Officer] Lindgren smooths things out. As first officer, she sustains my power. But she overrules me from time to time. She exercises her rank to bend regulations in favor of mercy. Therefore she adds benignity to the attributes of Ultimate Authority.”
― Poul Anderson, Tau Zero

“The language, in fact, was Danish. After a moment, Nilsson recognized the lyrics, Jacobsen’s Songs of Gurre, and Schönberg’s melodies for them. The call of King Valdemar’s men, raised from their coffins to follow him on the spectral ride that he was condemned to lead, snarled forth. “Be greeted, King, here by Gurre Lake! Across the island our hunt we take, From stringless bow let the arrow fly That we have aimed with a sightless eye. We chase and strike at the shadow hart, And dew like blood from the wound will start. Night raven swinging And darkly winging, And leafage foaming where hoofs are ringing, So shall we hunt ev’ry night, they say, Until that hunt on the Judgment Day. Holla, horse, and holla, hound, Stop awhile upon this ground! Here’s the castle which erstwhile was. Feed your horses on thistledown; Man may eat of his own renown.” She started to go on with the next stanza, Valdemar’s cry to his lost darling; but she faltered and went directly to his men’s words as dawn breaks over them. “The cock lifts up his head to crow, Has the day within him, And morning dew is running red With rust, from off our swords. Past is the moment! Graves are calling with open mouths, And earth sucks down ev’ry light-shy horror. Sink ye, sink ye! Strong and radiant, life comes forth With deeds and hammering pulses. And we are death folk, Sorrow and death folk, Anguish and death folk. To graves! To graves! To dream-bewildered sleep— Oh, could we but rest peaceful!”
― Poul Anderson, Tau Zero