James Blish

Quotes

1. “Your concept is a tremendous network of inconsistencies.”

   “In what way?” the countess said, not very much interested.

   “It seems to be based on reverence for the young, and an extremely patient and protective attitude toward their physical and mental welfare. Yet you make them live in these huge caves, utterly out of contact with the natural world, and you teach them to be afraid of death—which of course makes them a little insane, because there is nothing anybody can do about death. It is like teaching them to be afraid of the second law of thermodynamics, just because living matter sets that law aside for a very brief period.

   p. 149

2. 

   The tribesmen understand this very well, although they would not describe it in the same terms I have. It is simply a working part of their lives. Do you think they would continue to consult me if they found that the advice that I gave them did not work? They are uncivilized, but they are not insane.

   p. 21

3. 

   “We hear you, Father,” he said surprisingly. “Yet we sense that though what you say is the truth, it is not the whole truth.”

   p. 61

4. 

   Never assume that any fact is useless until it is so proven.

   p. 62

5. 

   Telepathy and intelligence appear to be incompatible from the evolutionary point of view—if you’ve got one, you don’t seem to need the other, and they may even be evolutionary enemies.

   p. 78

That’s all the quotes.

5 quotes in the collection · come back when we add more