Nightfall And Other Stories Quotes
"I just write any old way it comes into my mind to write and just as fast as it comes into my mind."
"As the years passed, in fact, it became evident that I had written a 'classic.'"
"There is a psychological term for mankind’s instinctive fear of the absence of light. We call it 'claustrophobia'."
"The absence of light is always tied up with enclosed places, so that fear of one is fear of the other."
"Your brain wasn’t built for the conception any more than it was built for the conception of infinity or of eternity."
"It was fear born of that isolation that dictated their actions."
"All life was sacred and somehow room would have been made for them--for all of them."
"It fitted into a brown leather case, equipped with a beltlike contraption that held it closely about the waist and at one hip."
"No people are truly immortal. If there were no other way to die, there would always be accident, and if that fails, there is boredom."
"It makes sense out of the business of living."
"An Earthman may infect one of us if he remains among us."
"The control, Mrs. Smollett, may be very subtle, and may, moreover, be exerted only during the period of active reproduction."
"I cannot blame you too far. As Earthmen, you cannot be expected to understand the psychology of my people."
"It is only here, on this revolting planet, that I can be deprived of cyanide."
"There were humans in the Garden of Eden and also the serpent, which 'was more subtil than any beast of the field.'"
"Cancer attacked children while they were still growing; it could even attack embryonic tissue."
"She wanted to weep, but couldn’t; she was dry-eyed and it was painful."
"He said, ‘Mister, I’m sorry you want to kill yourself. Don’t do it, because if you do, you’ll regret it the rest of your life.’"
"If I commit a crime, will you put me in jail?"
"I want you to put me in jail because I want to kill myself."
"It’s staring at you. Why don’t you do so-and-so? A child could tell you that."
"I’ve known something for a year now, that very few people know."
"They’ve bred us too long; they’ve taken too many chances. We’re out of the culture now and they won’t be able to stop us."
"Planetary fertilizer. How can it excuse a ridiculous war like this one?"
"If we are to be interned, we would need you as an interpreter, perhaps, one who would understand the Kloros."
"In a good cause, there are no failures; there are only delayed successes."
"Success in what? Success in working the ruin of humanity. Failure in what? In saving it?"
"Humanity knows better, Jeff. They are spreading from world to world like an atomic explosion."
"I am sick of it all, Altmayer, sick of all our stupid history."
"Maybe we’ve got to be whipped into line. If so, I’m perfectly willing to let the Diaboli do the whipping."
"Any true independence we now have will be lost."
"It is not difficult. Sodium sulfate will dissolve in the oceans of any world."
"An old man finds it hard to abandon the habits of youth."
"Multivac is not the first computer, friends, nor the best-known, nor the one that can most efficiently lift the load of decision from the shoulders of the executive."
"One of the side effects of the growing respectability of science fiction was that it began to appear in markets where, a few short years earlier, the Sanitation Department would have been called in."
"The whole secret to spreading the news is, no matter what, to Just Keep Talking."
"I have a role which I state loudly on every possible occasion. The role is, that I never write anything unless I am asked to do so."
"Everything is dangerous. We take our time in order that it be less dangerous."
"Men have this odd desire to make Metallos out of themselves. They yearn for the physical strength and endurance one associates with them."
"I believe in being what one is. I wouldn't change a bit of my own structure for any reason."
"The challenge was interesting and artistic integrity was preserved."
"The strangest market for science fiction, in my opinion, was the advertising columns."