“I’m sick to death of organizations that think they have the right to determine how others ought to develop!” Alan Dean Foster, Orphan Star. Flinx is upset at the fact that the Commonwealth and Church have chosen to isolate the Ujurrians, a race of highly intelligent telepaths.
“The only reason for making a buzzing-noise that I know of is because you’re a bee.” A. E. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh. Pooh, in the process of reasoning that a buzzing noise means honey. (Pooh’s not in the picture because he resides on my iPad.)
“A paranoid has just as much right to be persecuted as anyone else.” Mark Phillips, Supermind. Burris, the head of the Queen’s Own FBI, trying to explain a new case to agent Malone (who, among other things, teleports. Oh, and the Queen is Queen Elizabeth I, at least in her own mind.)
“Men who have abandoned their old ways can discover astonishingly useful new ones.” Murray Leinster, The Forgotten Planet. This refers to the humans who have found the high plateau that is too cold for the insects that have made their life miserable in the lowlands.
“It’s a poor god that wouldn’t answer the appeal of his last worshiper.” Lester del Rey, “The Pipes of Pan.” I have this short story in The Other Worlds (Out of print.) Pan is speaking, as he gives a drink of water to his last, dying worshiper and becomes mortal.
“We can’t sell iceboxes to nonexistent Eskimos.” Keith Laumer, “The Negotiators” in Retief: Emissary to the Stars. Retief’s attempt to translate Ambassador Fullthrottle’s “Our initial challenge appears to consist in the circumstance that I, we, that is, have been dispatched here, in good faith, to establish diplomatic relations with the local inhabitants – a consummation somewhat impeded by the apparent absence of local inhabitants – a circumstance which, unless nullified, will render impossible the conclusion of advantageous agreements between Terra and Sogood.”
“Guilt’s for something you could have done something about.” Sue Ann Bowling, Tourist Trap. Roi, telling himself he is not guilty of causing the plague on Eversummer.
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Sue Ann, I tried to reply back from your comment on my blog but it came back undeliverable.
Try sbowling at mosquitonet dot com.
Excellent group of quotes today. Not sure how Pooh got in there, but it’s delightful! The Alan Dean Foster quote reminds me of Microsoft. At work, I am constantly saying to one Microsoft product or another, “Bill Gates, stop trying to read my mind!”
About the Lester del Rey quote: It is so sad to think of books going out of print. That is why I love, love, love my eReader. People who are print purists never stop to think about this. I hope that a lot of authors (or their estates) will be releasing the out-of-print stuff for a whole new generation to discover. It’s also interesting to consider what this will do to the definition of copyright when nothing ever goes “out of print.”
Pooh’s fantasy, isn’t he? I’ve used the Alice books, too. Interesting how some authors are so easy to find twitter-able quotes from, some (Bramah, for instance) have lots of quotable bits too long for Twitter, and some have almost no quotes which are general enough to use. One reason I use Mercedes Lackey so much (aside from the fact that she’s a wonderful story-teller–I should be so good) is that it’s fairly easy to find quotes of the right length in her stuff.
And it’s not just Microsoft (though I often find myself screaming at Word’s autocorrects. Thank goodness my iPhone allows me to override its spelling corrections. You should see what it did with Ricotta (the cheese.)