Poul Anderson

Quotes

1. The last thing any sane person wants is a jihad.

   p. 133

2. 

   There really wasn’t much in a man’s life that mattered. But those few things mattered terribly.

   p. 200

3. 

   “My mother taught me a Spanish saying,” he remarked, “that it takes four men to make a salad: a spendthrift for the oil, a philosopher for the seasonings, a miser for the vinegar, and a madman for the tossing.”

   p. 37

4. 

   Life isn’t a fairy tale; the knight who kills the dragon doesn’t necessarily get the princess. So what? Who’d want to live in a cosmos less rich and various than the real one?

   p. 207

5. 

   He’d seen too often how little of the universe is designed for man to neglect any safety measure.

   p. 93

6. 

   Heim ignored the mob scene on the 3V, rested his eyes on the cold serenity of the Milky Way and thought that this, at least, would endure.

   p. 69

7. 

   At most, the gods gave only a little happiness; the rest was merely existence.

   p. 42

8. 

   “Destiny,” said John. “The ghastliest word a man can speak.”

   p. 130

9. 

   “I think,” said John, “you’d do well to remember what one of our philosophers wrote. All evil is a good become cancerous.

   p. 131

10. 

    Another irritating thing about Naqsans was their habit of solemnly repeating the obvious. In that respect they were almost as bad as humans.

    p. 90

11. 

    Why do people in this age think their own impoverished lives must be the norm of the universe?

    p. 9

12. 

    I do not think the coerced mind ever really learns an art.

    p. 20