The Martian Chronicles Quotes
"It is good to renew one’s wonder," said the philosopher. "Space travel has again made children of us all."
"Rocket summer. The words passed among the people in the open, airing houses."
"The rocket lay on the launching field, blowing out pink clouds of fire and oven heat."
"Mr. and Mrs. K had lived by the dead sea for twenty years, and their ancestors had lived in the same house, which turned and followed the sun, flower-like, for ten centuries."
"Marriage made people old and familiar, while still young."
"She waited. She watched the blue sky of Mars as if it might at any moment grip in on itself, contract, and expel a shining miracle down upon the sand."
"But no. She shook her head, an imperceptible, forgiving shrug. Her eyelids closed softly down upon her golden eyes."
"The sun was setting. The house was closing itself in, like a giant flower, with the passing of light."
"The rocket reclined on the little sunny hill and didn’t vanish."
"Here we are, as far as we know, in a land that Williams and York never saw."
"Everywhere I look I see things that were used. They were touched and handled for centuries."
"Life was its own answer. Life was the propagation of more life and the living of as good a life as possible."
"We Earth Men have a talent for ruining big, beautiful things."
"But there they go, leaving because it's the way it is."
"I felt as if I were the last man alive on this world."
"What do you mean, pulling out? How can they do that?"
"It's like a thing I got for Christmas seventy years ago—they called them kaleidoscopes."
"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."
"How quick was the evacuation? Walk in any store, bang the NO SALE key. Cash drawers jump out, all bright and jingly with coins. That war on Earth must be very bad..."
"Now, tonight, he drifted up and down, seeing the wax women in every colorful shop window, pink and beautiful."
"He boiled the hot dogs, cut the buns, sliced the onions in a frenzy."
"Suddenly he stopped, clapped his hands sharply together, and laughed."
"The wind blew and the stars shone gently upon him in the new dusk."
"The Martian mountains lay all around, millions of years old."
"He sighed, putting up a hand to touch her in the moonlight. Long dark hair shaking in the wind; beautiful, it was."
"He expected her to rush out, all perfume, all laughter. Nothing happened."
"The town lay in double moonlit silence. Somewhere a wind flapped a canvas awning."
"He searched every booth. He found a tiny handkerchief on the floor. It smelled so good he almost lost his balance."
"He drove all night. He thought, What if she isn’t in Marlin Village waiting, when I arrive?"
"He wouldn’t think of that. She must be there."
"Marlin Village was quiet at dawn. Yellow lights were still burning in several stores."
"Walter turned down Main Street, the car lights still on, honking the horn a double toot."
"He stood looking at her. She dropped her candy box to the sidewalk."
""I feel like staying up all night," he said."
""It’s getting late," she said, looking at him."
""I’m tired." She glanced up at him with sly, bright eyes."
""Good-by!" And he was out the door and into his car before she could scream."
"She ran and stood on the curb as he swung the car about."
""Walter Griff, come back here!" she wailed, flinging up her arms."
"The car whirled away down the silent street."
"And when once in a while over the long years the phone rings—he doesn’t answer."
"He returned to the stone hut and once more, just before going in, shaded his eyes, searching the black sky."
""You keep waiting and waiting and looking," he said."
""I have good news," he said. "I have looked at the sky. A rocket is coming to take us all home.""
""Here’s to us, then." He lifted his glass. "And to our long wait together." He drank."
"The wine ran down over the chins of all four of them."
""We’ll have a huge breakfast for them," laughed Hathaway."
""If you can do anything about this, you’re a better man than I.""
""Today is August 4, 2026," said a second voice from the kitchen ceiling."
""Rain, rain, go away; rubbers, raincoats for today ... ""
"The fire crackled up the stairs. It fed upon Picassos and Matisses in the upper halls."
"The fire lay in beds, stood in windows, changed the colors of drapes!"
"The fire backed off, as even an elephant must at the sight of a dead snake."
"The fire was clever. It had sent flames outside the house, up through the attic to the pumps there."
""Fire, fire, run, run," like a tragic nursery rhyme."
"The fire burst the house and let it slam flat down."
""Today is August 5, 2026, today is August 5, 2026, today is ... ""
""The whole darn planet belongs to us, kids. The whole darn planet.""