Scifi Quotes

“Viajar es entender lo absurdo de buscarle coherencia a la vida sin sentido, y saber enfocarse sólo en el camino.”
― Ezequiel Bongiorni, Héroes de la Extinción: Tiempo de encuentros incómodos

“Your soul is more magnificent, beautiful, and gigantic than you can possibly imagine.”
― Andy Weir, The Egg

“Scrotum lifting tension”
― Dan Simmons

“Crime is to foresee and do.”
― H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds

“Yes, thinking meat! Conscious meat! Loving meat. Dreaming meat. The meat is the whole deal! Are you beginning to get the picture or do I have to start all over?”
― Terry Bisson, They're Made Out of Meat

“On the television screen were ballerinas. A buzzer sounded in George's head. His thoughts fled in panic, like bandits from a burglar alarm.

"That was a real pretty dance, that dance they just did," said Hazel.

"Huh" said George.

"That dance-it was nice," said Hazel.

"Yup," said George.

He tried to think a little about the ballerinas. They weren't really very good-no better than anybody else would have been, anyway. They were burdened with sashweights and bags of birdshot, and their faces were masked, so that no one, seeing a free and graceful gesture or a pretty face, would feel like something the cat drug in. George was toying with the vague notion that maybe dancers shouldn't be handicapped. But he didn't get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts. George winced. So did two out of the eight ballerinas.”
― Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Harrison Bergeron

“Now I may safely plot my course, without the pressure of oncoming digestion…”
― Tony Del Degan, Ceres

“Two more feathers drifted to the ground. “I’m not a common crow, you prick! I can speak to you!”
― Tony Del Degan, Ceres

“I fear no insult or threat of violence,” the Hierarch went on, “Let us speak like intelligent beings.”
― Tony Del Degan, Ceres

“The knowledge stored in my mind is a collection amassed over millions of ages. Every form and function of every type of being is logged. There is no life form breathing that can dispute my reasoning or claim to supersede my position. I will retain the garrison on this Biycron-3 for as long as I see fit to do so. To quell your discontent, I will inform you that it is in your best interest. Anything more would be a slap to your consciousness far beyond any hope of understanding.”
― Tony Del Degan, Ceres

“Munin was spit out in a fleshy, watery mess. Smack! He flattened on the concrete - a dropped, half-baked tart.”
― Tony Del Degan, Ceres

“He talked a great deal about Truth, also, for he was, as he said, "cutting down beneath the veneer of civilization."

It is a durable, ubiquitous, specious metaphor, that one about veneer (or paint, or pliofilm, or whatever) hiding the nobler reality beneath. It can conceal a dozen fallacies at once.

The most dangerous is the implication that civilization, being artificial, is unnatural: that it is the opposite of primitiveness . . .

Of course there is no veneer, the process is one of growth, and primitiveness and civilization are degrees of the same thing.

If civilization has an opposite, it is war.

Of those two things, you have either one, or the other.

Not both.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness

“It was super scummy but I liked it.”
― Kathe Koja, Dark Factory

“La violencia es el último recurso del incopetente”
― Isaac Asimov, Foundation

“The wolf appeared from nothing beside Isaiah. The lack of light and night vision of the Anubis didn’t strip away its gold coloration. Stars glittered in its coat, and nebulas filled its blue eyes.”
― Adrienne Wilder, Anubis

“I’m not brave. I’m paying penance. There’s a difference.” -Dr. Reese Dante”
― Adrienne Wilder, Anubis

“Ashes. Is this all that there is to a life?”
― Steve Holloway

“First survive, then tell the truth.”
― Amie Kaufman

“[...] fun for me was sneaking off to peer into a tidal pool, to grasp the intricacies of the creatures that lived there. Sustenance for me was tied to ecosystem and habitat, orgasm the sudden realization of the interconnectivity of living things. Observation had always meant more to me than interaction. He knew all of this, I think. But I never could express myself that well to him, although I did try, and he did listen. And yet, I was nothing but expression in other ways. My sole gift or talent, I believe now, was that places could impress themselves upon me, and I could become a part of them with ease. Even a bar was a type of ecosystem, if a crude one, and to someone entering, someone without my husband’s agenda, that person could have seen me sitting there and had no trouble imagining that I was happy in my little bubble of silence. Would have had no trouble believing I fit in [...]”
― Jeff VanderMeer

“Los vientos incesantes del tiempo revelarían si esa derrota se convertiría en decepción. La claudicación sentenciaría el fracaso, y eso jamás iba a suceder.”
― Ezequiel Bongiorni, Héroes de la Extinción: El camino de los tres Generales

“Yes, thinking meat! Conscious meat! Loving meat. Dreaming meat. The meat is the whole deal! Are you getting the picture?”
― Terry Bisson, They're Made Out of Meat

“TESTIMONIO 038
Después de veintiocho días desempeñando mi trabajo en las salas empecé a preguntarme quién era yo aquí en definitiva. Un ser humano, empleado, que programa, cadete número diecisiete de la nave seis mil. Mi tarea con los objetos de la sala ha tomado una deriva irreal. Me descubro mirándolos ausente durante varios minutos sin ningún propósito.”
― Olga Ravn, Los empleados

“TESTIMONIO 022
Me han comentado que existe algún problema en mi patrón de respuesta emocional. Que se ha observado que no soy capaz de realizar mi tarea correctamente debido al carácter disfuncional de ciertos sentimientos. Yo entro en las salas a diario. Jamás he estado en ningún otro lugar que no sea la nave seis mil. Tengo que ejercitar mi flexibilidad cognitiva si quiero integrarme en la parte de tripulación que ha nacido. ¿Se trata de un problema de tipo humano? Porque en tal caso me gustaría conservarlo.”
― Olga Ravn, Los empleados

“TESTIMONIO 010
Absteneos de entrar en la segunda sala. No es un lugar agradable que digamos. Y podéis evitarlo. Dejando que lo hagamos nosotros en vuestro lugar. Ya hemos estado allí antes. Aún tenéis posibilidad de salvaros. No sé si sigo perteneciendo al género humano. ¿Es así? ¿Aparece en vuestros papeles lo que soy yo?”
― Olga Ravn, Los empleados

“Dad,” he said, “how far away is the sun?”
“Five thousand miles,” his father said.”
― Henry Slesar, Examination Day

“Why did it have to rain today?” he asked. “Why couldn’t it rain tomorrow?” His father, now slumped into an armchair with the Government newspaper, rattled the sheets in vexation. “Because it just did, that’s all. Rain makes the grass grow.” “Why, Dad?” “Because it does, that’s all.” Dick puckered his brow. “What makes it green though? The grass?” “Nobody knows,” his father snapped, then immediately regretted his abruptness.”
― Henry Slesar, Examination Day

“Dick said, “Ready.” Lights appeared on the machine, and a mechanism whirred. A voice said: “Complete this sequence. One, four, seven, ten …”
― Henry Slesar, Examination Day

“This is the Government Educational Service. Your son, Richard M. Jordan, Classification 600-115, has completed the Government examination. We regret to inform you that his intelligence quotient has exceeded the Government regulation, according to Rule 84, Section 5, of the New Code.”
― Henry Slesar, Examination Day

“You may specify by telephone,” the voice droned on, “whether you wish his body interred by the Government or would you prefer a private burial place? The fee for Government burial is ten dollars.”
― Henry Slesar, Examination Day

“Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she couldn't think about anything except in short bursts. And George, while his intelligence was way above normal, had a little mental handicap radio in his ear. He was required by law to wear it at all times. It was tuned to a government transmitter. Every twenty seconds or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains.”
― Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Harrison Bergeron