It is said that power corrupts, but actually it’s more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power.
Prison for the crime of puberty — that was how secondary school had seemed.
Creative people see Prometheus in a mirror, never Pandora.
We have earned our peace. It is, by now, more precious than honor, or even pity.
Your neighbors are not all sheep. Your political opponents are not all evil or fools. Try talking to those you despise. They are your fellow citizens. And together, we are not lesser than any “greatest generation.”.
Alex felt the words wash over him. He had the strange fantasy the things were seeking places within him to lay their young.
It was a strange trek — the sullen leading the apathetic, followed by the confused, all tailed by the inveterately amused.
Generalization is a natural human mental process, and many generalizations are true—in average. What often does promote evil behavior is the lazy, nasty habit of believing that generalizations have anything at all to do with individuals.
The health of an enlightened and progressive society is measured by how vibrant is its science fiction, since that is where true self-critique and appraisal and hope lie.
Self-awareness is probably overrated. A complex, self-regulating system doesn’t need it in order to be successful, or even smart.
Cultural contamination that is directed outward is always seen as ‘enlightenment.
The propensity of Earthlings to get into trouble, and to learn thereby, was the reason my owners agreed to this mad venture – although no one expected such a chain of unusual calamities as befell this ship. Your talents were underrated.
The three basic material rights — continuity, mutual obligation, and the pursuit of happiness.
Even in dying, a Thennanin ship was reputed to be not worth putting out of its misery. In battle they were slow, unmaneuverable—and as hard to disable permanently as a cockroach.
… science demands a terrible price – that we accept what experiments tell us about the universe, whether we like it or not.
Only people with full stomachs become environmentalists.
When it comes to privacy and accountability, people always demand the former for themselves and the latter for everyone else.
Where is it written that one should only care about big things?
Predicting has a spotty record in science fiction. I’ve had some failures. On the other hand, I also predicted the fall of the Berlin Wall and the rise of fundamentalist Islam… and I’m not happy to be right in all of those cases.
The worst mistake of first contact, made throughout history by individuals on both sides of every new encounter, has been the unfortunate habit of making assumptions. It often proved fatal.