Keith Laumer

Quotes

1. “Take it easy, girl,” I said, and patted her shoulder; I knew my touching her would chill her down again. Not a nice thing to know, but useful.

   p. 71

2. 

   “Quelius—you’re nuts—did you know that?”

   “Of course. That’s quite all right. Better embarked on an exciting insanity than moldering away in dull normality. One thing you can’t deny: we psychotics lead interesting lives.”

   p. 713

3. 

   “It’s an old trick,” the security chief said. “Reverse cunning, we call it in the security game; indistinguishable from utter stupidity.”

   p. 380

4. 

   “Just what is your position here?”

   “I’m an adviser to his Majesty.” Nicodaeus smiled blandly. “He thinks I’m a master of magic, of course, but among these feather-heads a little common sense is sufficient to earn one a reputation as a wise man.”

   p. 67

5. 

   “M-magic?” Lafayette stuttered.

   “Nonsense. Electronics.”

   p. 389

6. 

   Magic, after all? He felt the untrimmed hair at the nape of his neck rising. But then, maybe it was just electronics—magic rationalized.

   p. 175

7. 

   Strange—I go along for months at a time—even years—without so much as a mild concussion—and then bam—slam—bash! They start using my head for a practice dummy. That’s how I can tell that I’m having an adventure.

   p. 557

8. 

   He turned; she stood in the doorway, clad in an invisible negligee.

   p. 526

9. 

   “None of that, either,” he commanded. “Keep your mind on the immediate problem—just as soon as you figure out what the immediate problem is,” he added.

   p. 274

10. 

    “Him and his pet dragon—”

    “More folklore, I take it?”

    “Well, I never actually seen this dragon.”

    “Hmmm. Funny how nobody I’ve met has seen it, but they all believe in it.”

    p. 124

11. 

    Judge a chap on what he does, and not what he is, eh? None of us can help our natural tendencies—and perhaps overcoming one’s instincts is in the end a nobler achievement than not having the impulse in the first place.

    p. 56

12. 

    Out of the synthesis of opposites, a cancerous growth called Beauty came into being; obscene antisurvival concepts named Loyalty, Courage, Justice were born into the universe.

    Wherever the elemental Purities encountered this monstrous hybrid, a battle of extermination was joined. Good could compromise with Evil, but neither could meet with the half-breed, Art.

    p. 169