Larry Niven quotes

Larry Niven is an American science fiction author, best known for his "Ringworld" series and imaginative hard science fiction works. His writing combines inventive concepts with rigorous scientific plausibility. He has influenced generations of writers and continues to be celebrated for his impact on the genre. Here are 193 of his quotes:

Building one space station for everyone was and is insane: we should have built a dozen.

Larry Niven

Stupidity is always a capital crime.

Larry Niven

To witness titanic events is always dangerous, usually painful, and often fatal.

Larry Niven

That's the thing about people who think they hate computers ... What they really hate are lousy programmers.

Larry Niven

The gods do not protect fools. Fools are protected by more capable fools.

Larry Niven

Half of wisdom is learning what to unlearn.

Larry Niven

The Unexpected always comes at the most awkward times.

Larry Niven

We learn only to ask more questions.

Larry Niven

Fear is the brother of hate.

Larry Niven

9) Ethics change with technology.

Larry Niven

Tell them the universe is too complicated a toy for a sensibly cautious being to play with.

Larry Niven

The perversity of the universe tends towards a maximum. The universe is hostile.

Larry Niven

3) Mother Nature doesn't care if you're having fun.

Larry Niven

The dinosaurs became extinct because they didn't have a space program. And if we become extinct because we don't have a space program, it'll serve us right!

Larry Niven

4) It is a sin to waste the reader's time.

Larry Niven

Anything you don't understand is dangerous until you do understand it.

Larry Niven

Sometimes there's no point in giving up.

Larry Niven

One mark of a good officer, he remembered, was the ability to make quick decisions. If they happen to be right, so much the better.

Larry Niven

I'd repair our education system or replace it with something that works.

Larry Niven

The bleeding-heart symbol does not represent any known revolutionary organization.

Larry Niven

2) Never fire a laser at a mirror.

Larry Niven

There is a technical, literary term for those who mistake the opinions and beliefs of characters in a novel for those of the author. The term is 'idiot'.

Larry Niven