Peter Grant

Here are some great quotes I’ve found. If you know of one that should be included please post it below:

“When I die I’m going to leave my body to science fiction.” – Steven Wright

“I’ve always liked the idea of a special Hugo to be awarded (by force, perhaps) to literary authors who write books dripping with themes filleted from mainstream SF and then deny that it’s science fiction ‘because it’s not about robots and spaceships’.” – Terry Pratchett

“There’s no real objection to escapism, in the right places… We all want to escape occasionally. But science fiction is often very far from escapism, in fact you might say that science fiction is escape into reality… It’s a fiction which does concern itself with real issues: the origin of man; our future. In fact I can’t think of any form of literature which is more concerned with real issues, reality.” – Arthur C Clarke

“Isn’t it interesting that the same people who laugh at science fiction listen to weather forecasts and economists?”

“Politicians should read science fiction, not westerns and detective stories.” – Arthur C. Clarke

“Science fiction writers foresee the inevitable, and although problems and catastrophes may be inevitable, solutions are not.” – Isaac Asimov

“Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.” – Isaac Asimov, Foundation

“Any dogma, primarily based on faith and emotionalism, is a dangerous weapon to use on others, since it is almost impossible to guarantee that the weapon will never be turned on the user.” – Isaac Asimov, Foundation

“Superstition always directs action in the absence of knowledge.” – Isaac Asimov, Foundation and Earth

“Experience comes from doing, not from being told. Experiment and discover. Seek and find. It is not machinations of others that compel us to do so; it is our need to know. It is, in the end, the way we learn.” – Terry Brooks, The Talismans of Shannara

“Human beings never think for themselves, they find it too uncomfortable. For the most part, members of our species simply repeat what they are told – and become upset if they are exposed to any different view. … We are stubborn, self-destructive conformists. Any other view of our species is just a self-congratulatory delusion.” – Michael Crichton, The Lost World

“One of the less attractive aspects of human nature is our tendency to hate the people we haven’t treated very well; it’s much easier than accepting guilt. If we can convince ourselves that the people we betrayed or enslaved were subhuman monsters in the first place, then our guilt isn’t nearly as black as we secretly know it is. Humans are very, very good at shifting blame and avoiding guilt. We do like to keep a good opinion of ourselves, don’t we?” – David Eddings, The Shining Ones

“We should grant power over affairs only to those who are reluctant to hold it and then only under conditions that increase the reluctance.” – Frank Herbert, Chapterhouse: Dune

“Power attracts the corruptible. Suspect all who seek it.” – Frank Herbert, Chapterhouse: Dune

“Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.” – J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

“If you want to see the true measure of a man, watch how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.” – J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

“Hope is like a piece of string when you’re drowning; it just isn’t enough to get you out by itself.” – Robert Jordan, The Eye of the World

“Always plan for the worst; that way, all your surprises will be pleasant ones.” – Robert Jordan The Dragon Reborn

“Any fool knows men and women think differently at times, but the biggest difference is this. Men forget, but never forgive; women forgive, but never forget.” – Robert Jordan, The Dragon Reborn

“A neat and orderly living space is the sign of a dangerously sick mind.” – Mercedes Lackey, The Black Gryphon

“Everything in my life has been gained at the cost of not saying what I really think and saying what they want me to say.” – Elizabeth Moon, The Speed of Dark

“If your God is everywhere, if He is always watching, why should your people make houses to go to worship Him? Faced with an all-seeing, everywhere-being God, I would think what is needed is a place to hide.” – Tad Williams, Caliban’s Hour

“Reality is the part that refuses to go away when I stop believing in it.” – Phillip K. Dick

“I’m not a speed reader. I’m a speed understander.” – Isaac Asimov

I will update this page as I find more great quotes.