# The Martian Chronicles

- Author: [Ray Bradbury](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury.md)
- Quotes: 11
- Book page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury/the-martian-chronicles

## Quotes

> We Earth Men have a talent for ruining big beautiful things. The only reason we didn’t set up hot-dog stands in the midst of the Egyptian temple of Karnak is because it was out of the way and served no large commercial purpose.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury/the-martian-chronicles/we-earth-men.md)

> They began by controlling books of cartoons and then detective books and, of course, films, one way or another, one group or another, political bias, religious prejudice, union pressures; there was always a minority afraid of something, and a great majority afraid of the dark, afraid of the future, afraid of the past, afraid of the present, afraid of themselves and shadows of themselves.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury/the-martian-chronicles/they-began-by-controlling.md)

> The gods had gone away, and the ritual of the religion continued senselessly, uselessly.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury/the-martian-chronicles/the-gods-had.md)

> Marriage made people old and familiar, while still young.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury/the-martian-chronicles/marriage-made-people.md)

> I’m being ironic. Don't interrupt a man in the midst of being ironic, it’s not polite.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury/the-martian-chronicles/im-being-ironic.md)

> They knew how to live with nature and get along with nature. They didn’t try too hard to be all men and no animal. That’s the mistake we made when Darwin showed up. We embraced him and Huxley and Freud, all smiles. And then we discovered that Darwin and our religions didn’t mix. Or at least we didn’t think they did, We were fools. We tried to budge Darwin and Huxley and Freud. They wouldn’t move very well. So, like idiots, we tried knocking down religion. We succeeded pretty well. We lost our faith and went around wondering what life was for. If art was no more than a frustrated outflinging of desire, if religion was no more than self-delusion, what good was life? Faith had always given us answers to all things. But it all went down the drain with Freud and Darwin. We were and still are a lost people.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury/the-martian-chronicles/they-knew-how.md)

> The rocket stood in the cold winter morning, making summer with every breath of its mighty exhausts. The rocket made climates, and summer lay for a brief moment upon the land.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury/the-martian-chronicles/the-rocket-stood.md)

> Yes, their cities are good. They knew how to blend art into their living. It’s always been a thing apart for Americans. Art was something you kept in the crazy son’s room upstairs. Art was something you took in Sunday doses, mixed with religion, perhaps. Well, these Martians have art and religion and everything.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury/the-martian-chronicles/yes-their-cities.md)

> …at base, science is no more than an investigation of a miracle we can never explain, and art is an interpretation of that miracle. It’s all simply a matter of degree.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury/the-martian-chronicles/at-base-science.md)

> Timothy looked at the deep ocean sky, trying to see Earth and the war and the ruined cities and the men killing each other since the day he was born. But he saw nothing. The war was as removed and far off as two flies battling to the death in the arch of a great high and silent cathedral. And just as senseless...
>
> “What are you looking at so hard, Dad?”
>
> “I was looking for Earthian logic, common sense, good government, peace, and responsibility.”
>
> “All that up there?”
>
> “No. I didn’t find it. It’s not there any more. Maybe it’ll never be there again. Maybe we fooled ourselves that it was ever there.”

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury/the-martian-chronicles/timothy-looked-at-the.md)

> I have something to fight for and live for; that makes me a better killer. I’ve got what amounts to a religion, now.

[Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/ray-bradbury/the-martian-chronicles/i-have-something.md)