Jack Vance

Quotes

1. You are a particularly clever girl: almost as clever as you are appealing to the eye.

   p. 635

2. 

   “It is no hardship whatever,” said Aillas. “You have never strained at the deed. Now the shoe is on the other foot, and suddenly you find the idea incredible. Do you not sense a taint of unreality?”

   p. 571

3. 

   “Why not alter the habits of a lifetime and speak with candour?” asked Shimrod. “Truth, after all, need not be only the tactic of last resort.”

   p. 657

4. 

   A single question remained, the age-old cry of anguish: “How could one so beautiful be so base?”

   p. 434

5. 

   They call me a renegade.

   The epithet is inaccurate and undeserved. I cannot be faithless to a cause which I never have endorsed. Indeed, I am absolutely faithful to the only cause I espouse, which is my own welfare. I take pride in this unswerving loyalty!

   p. 418

6. 

   “Poor Pymfyd! Your world is built of fear and dread! As for me, I have no time for such emotions.”

   Pymfyd spoke in an even voice. “You are a royal princess and I may not call you a witless little fool, even should the thought cross my mind.”

   Madouc turned him a sad blue-eyed glance. “So that, after all, is your concept of me.”

   “I will say only this: persons who fear nothing are soon dead.”

   p. 722

7. 

   What is peace? Balance three iron skewers tip to tip, one upon the other; at the summit, emplace and egg, so that it too poises static in mid-air, and there you have the condition of peace in this world of men.

   p. 750

8. 

   He used a name for himself, true, but we played at Romance, and this is a game where truth is a bagatelle.

   p. 904

9. 

   Beauty compelled admiration and erotic yearning; such was its organic function. But never by itself could it command love.

   p. 449

10. 

    It is all sheer egocentricity: the myth of self triumphant over destiny!

    p. 356

11. 

    “I wonder, sir, if you’d be good enough to advise me.”

    “Certainly, within the limits of discretion,” said Eubanq. “I should warn you, however, that free advice is usually not worth its cost.”

    p. 417

12. 

    So much existed: so much to be felt and seen and known! A single life was not enough…

    p. 307