# Valis

- Author: [Philip K. Dick](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick.md)
- Quotes: 19
- Book page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/valis

## Quotes

> No man is infinitely strong; for every creature that runs, flies, hops or crawls there is a terminal nemesis which he will not circumvent, which will finally do him in.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/valis/no-man-is-infinitely.md)

> Helping people was one of the two basic things Fat had been told to give up; helping people and taking dope. He had stopped taking dope, but all his energy and enthusiasm were now totally channelled into saving people. Better he had kept on with the dope.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/valis/helping-people-was.md)

> To fight the Empire is to be infected by its derangement ... Whoever defeats the Empire becomes the Empire; it proliferates like a virus ... thereby it becomes its enemies.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/valis/to-fight-the.md)

> Mental illness is not funny.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/valis/mental-illness-is-not.md)

> "You of all people," the void communicated. "Out of everyone, it is you I love the most."

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/valis/you-of-all.md)

> The Empire Never Ended

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/valis/the-empire-never.md)

> It is amazing that when someone else spouts the nonsense you yourself believe you can readily perceive it as nonsense.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/valis/it-is-amazing.md)

> The distinction between sanity and insanity is narrower than the razor's edge, sharper than a hound's tooth, more agile than a mule deer. It is more elusive than the merest phantom. Perhaps it does not even exist; perhaps it is a phantom.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/valis/the-distinction-between.md)

> Crazy people do not apply the principle of scientific parsimony... they shoot for the baroque.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/valis/crazy-people-do-not.md)

> "matter is plastic in the face of mind."

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/valis/matter-is-plastic.md)

> Certainly it constitutes bad news if the people who agree with you are buggier than batshit.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/valis/certainly-it-constitutes.md)

> Fish cannot carry guns.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/valis/fish-cannot-carry.md)

> Madness has its own dynamism. It just goes on.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/valis/madness-has-its.md)

> God is either powerless, stupid or he doesn't give a shit.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/valis/god-is-either.md)

> It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/valis/it-is-sometimes.md)

> Reality is that which when you stop believing in it, it doesn't go away.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/valis/reality-is-that.md)

> A lot can be said for the infinite mercies of God, but the smarts of a good pharmacist, when you get down to it, is worth more.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/valis/a-lot-can.md)

> For each person there is a sentence — a series of words — which has the power to destroy him ... another sentence exists, another series of words, which will heal the person. If you're lucky you will get the second; but you can be certain of getting the first: that is the way it works. On their own, without training, individuals know how to deal out the lethal sentence, but training is required to deal out the second.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/valis/for-each-person.md)

> We hypostasize information into objects. Rearrangement of objects is change in the content of the information; the message has changed. This is a language which we have lost the ability to read. We ourselves are a part of this language; changes in us are changes in the content of the information. We ourselves are information-rich; information enters us, is processed and is then projected outwards once more, now in an altered form. We are not aware that we are doing this, that in fact this is all we are doing.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/philip-k-dick/valis/we-hypostasize-information.md)