Emergency Skin Quotes

“We realized it was impossible to protect any one place if the place next door was drowning or on fire. We realized the old boundaries weren’t meant to keep the undesirable out, but to hoard resources within. And the hoarders were the core of the problem.”
― N.K. Jemisin, Emergency Skin

“Astra inclinant, sed non obligant;”
― N.K. Jemisin, Emergency Skin

“What the Leaving proved was that the Earth could sustain billions, if we simply shared resources and responsibilities in a sensible way. What it couldn’t sustain was a handful of hateful, self-important parasites, preying upon and paralyzing everyone else. As soon as those people left, the paralysis ended.”
― N.K. Jemisin, Emergency Skin

“Sometimes that’s all it takes to save a world, you see. A new vision. A new way of thinking, appearing at just the right time.”
― N.K. Jemisin, Emergency Skin

“Yes, some new technology emerged once everyone was permitted a decent education. But there was no trick to it. No quick fix. The problem wasn’t technological.”
What, then?
“I told you. People just decided to take care of each other.”
― N.K. Jemisin, Emergency Skin

“We realized the old boundaries weren’t meant to keep the undesirable out, but to hoard resources within. And the hoarders were the core of the problem.”
― N.K. Jemisin, Emergency Skin

“Six billion people working toward a goal together is much more effective than a few dozen scrabbling for themselves.”
― N.K. Jemisin, Emergency Skin

“I took you to the museum on a whim. To enjoy the irony. For all these centuries, the Founders told us that the Earth died because of greed. That was true, but they lied about whose greed was to blame. Too many mouths to feed, they said, too many ‘useless’ people . . . but we had more than enough food and housing for everyone. And the people they declared useless had plenty to offer—just not anything they cared about. The idea of doing something without immediate benefit, something that might only pay off in ten, twenty, or a hundred years, something that might benefit people they disliked, was anathema to the Founders. Even though that was precisely the kind of thinking that the world needed to survive.”
― N.K. Jemisin, Emergency Skin

“Everything that could be given to you to improve on the human design, you possess.”
― N.K. Jemisin, Emergency Skin

“the Earth could sustain billions, if we simply shared resources and responsibilities in a sensible way. What it couldn’t sustain was a handful of hateful, self-important parasites, preying upon and paralyzing everyone else.”
― N.K. Jemisin, Emergency Skin

“What it couldn’t sustain was a handful of hateful, self-important parasites, preying upon and paralyzing everyone else.”
― N.K. Jemisin, Emergency Skin

“What it couldn’t sustain was a handful of hateful, self-important parasites, preying upon and paralyzing everyone else. As soon as those people left, the paralysis ended.”
― N.K. Jemisin, Emergency Skin

“Some of them will decide that they also want to be beautiful and free, like you. Some will fight for this, if they must. Sometimes that’s all it takes to save a world, you see. A new vision. A new way of thinking, appearing at just the right time.”
― N.K. Jemisin, Emergency Skin

“We realized the old boundaries weren’t meant to keep the undesirable out”
― N.K. Jemisin, Emergency Skin

“N. K. Jemisin (the Broken Earth trilogy) is writing fantasy and speculative fiction like you’ve never even fathomed. Paul Tremblay is the greatest horror novelist working today, and his novel A Head Full of Ghosts still gives me nightmares. Veronica Roth created an unforgettable world and populated it with amazing characters in her iconic Divergent trilogy.”
― N.K. Jemisin, Emergency Skin

“human beings are better than AI at handling the unexpected. You must simply be prepared for anything.”
― N.K. Jemisin, Emergency Skin

“Have you noticed yet that the people here have been humoring you? An invader from a ‘superior’ culture arrives, and they don’t guard you, watch you, examine you for contaminants? Even after you’ve threatened them, they give you what you need—what you were prepared to steal. Something so precious that your whole world supposedly needs it to survive. An afterthought to them.”
― N.K. Jemisin, Emergency Skin

“Okay, then. Just remember, no more hostage taking! Poor scared thing. You know how to get back to your ship, right? We can give you an escort if you need it.”
― N.K. Jemisin, Emergency Skin

“Not that we blame you for your fear— Pardon us. Excitement and fear look much the same, neurologically speaking. Your excitement, then. This is a world we thought dead. A remnant of our species that evolution should have claimed, obviously saved by luck. We do agree that this is historically momentous.”
― N.K. Jemisin, Emergency Skin

“Our records suggest that you’re near what used to be a city called Raleigh. See those ruins through the trees? Raleigh was underwater when we left. Clearly they’ve reclaimed the land, but we are astonished that no one has redeveloped it, or at least clear-cut the forest. We find such chaos ugly and inefficient.”
― N.K. Jemisin, Emergency Skin

“But if you force thousands of people into skin they don’t want to be in, that’s not going to get you the result you want.”
― N.K. Jemisin, Emergency Skin

“A few are beautiful, maybe, for a while, but if they used the HeLa cells, a limited number of them could remain young and strong for centuries. “We left because it would’ve cost too much to fix the world. Cheaper to build a new one.”
― N.K. Jemisin, Emergency Skin

“That entire coastline should be gone. That state should be gone.”
― N.K. Jemisin, Emergency Skin

“The idea of doing something without immediate benefit, something that might only pay off in ten, twenty, or a hundred years, something that might benefit people they disliked, was anathema to the Founders. Even though that was precisely the kind of thinking that the world needed to survive.”
― N.K. Jemisin, Emergency Skin

“Yes, some new technology emerged once everyone was permitted a decent education. But there was no trick to it. No quick fix. The problem wasn’t technological.” What, then? “I told you. People just decided to take care of each other.”
― N.K. Jemisin, Emergency Skin

“We left because it would’ve cost too much to fix the world. Cheaper to build a new one.”
― N.K. Jemisin, Emergency Skin

“They still build societies around their least and worst instead of the best and brightest.”
― N.K. Jemisin, Emergency Skin

“People just decided to take care of each other.”
― N.K. Jemisin, Emergency Skin

“Only a few can have everything, don’t you see? What these people believe isn’t feasible. They want everything for everyone, and look at where it’s gotten them! Half of them aren’t even men.”
― N.K. Jemisin, Emergency Skin

“For all these centuries, the Founders told us that the Earth died because of greed. That was true, but they lied about whose greed was to blame. Too many mouths to feed, they said, too many ‘useless’ people . . . but we had more than enough food and housing for everyone. And the people they declared useless had plenty to offer—just not anything they cared about. The idea of doing something without immediate benefit, something that might only pay off in ten, twenty, or a hundred years, something that might benefit people they disliked, was anathema to the Founders. Even though that was precisely the kind of thinking that the world needed to survive.”
― N.K. Jemisin, Emergency Skin