# Quote — Jack Vance, Emphyrio

> Shanne said, “You are quiet; are you sad?”
>
> “In a way. Do you know why?”
>
> She put her hand across his mouth. “Never speak of it. What must be, will be. What can never be—can never be.”
>
> Ghyl turned to look at her, trying to divine every last scintilla of her meaning.
>
> “But,” she added in a soft voice, “what can be—can be.”

- Author: [Jack Vance](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance.md)
- Book: [Emphyrio](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/emphyrio.md)
- Source: [Wikiquote](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jack_Vance#Emphyrio_(1969)) ([CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/))
- Quote page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/emphyrio/shanne-said-you

## More from this book

> IF THERE BE HERE LESSON OR MORAL, IT LIES BEYOND THE COMPETENCE OF HIM WHO INSCRIBES THIS RECORD.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/emphyrio/if-there-be-here.md)

> Control is necessary and even good—so long as I do the controlling.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/emphyrio/control-is-necessary.md)

> Ghyl laughed also. “If I'm too serious, you're too irresponsible.”
>
> “Bah,” retorted Floriel. “Is the world responsible? Of course not! The world is random, vagrant, heedless. To be responsible is to be out of phase, to be insane!”
>
> Ghyl pondered a moment. “This is perhaps the case, in a world left to itself. But society imposes order. Living in a society, it is not insane to be responsible.”

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/jack-vance/emphyrio/ghyl-laughed-also.md)