Damon Knight quotes

Damon Knight was an American science fiction writer, editor, and critic, widely respected for his influential work in the genre. His stories and anthologies helped shape modern science fiction literature. He also founded the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, supporting generations of writers. Here are 15 of his quotes:

Science fiction ... means what we point to when we say it. (Damon Knight)
No progress, either moral or material, can be made in a world which is frozen, like ours, into a rigid mold of suppression of liberties. View quote
Damon Knight
A society that put more emphasis on birth than ability was likely to breed ability out of its ruling class. View quote
Damon Knight
We live on a minute island of known things. Our undiminished wonder at the mystery which surrounds us is what makes us human. In science fiction we can approach that mystery, not in small, everyday symbols, but in bigger ones of space and time. View quote
Damon Knight
There are more riddles in a stone than in a philosopher's head. View quote
Damon Knight
During the four days of the storm, I became accustomed to the soft light of lamps and candles and grew to like it. When the power came on again, I discovered that I was actually disappointed. The electric lights seemed cold and impersonal; they revealed too much. View quote
Damon Knight
Don't lose your temper,” said Ruell evenly. "It's your worst fault, except for ignorance. View quote
Damon Knight
We humanitarians, as our name suggests, believe that man has an ethical duty to man. We believe that the value of any system is measured by the consideration given to all human beings, not just to a favored class: and by that standard, our present system is a miserable failure. View quote
Damon Knight
Voluntary birth control methods only work on the people who choose to use 'em. A population check that doesn't work on everybody doesn't work at all, because it simply breeds out the ones who use it. The only population check that really works is one that affects everybody, like a limit of space or food. View quote
Damon Knight
Eagles had made a realist of him. He believed in facts, and in altering your viewpoint to fit them, no matter what they were. That was the way you survived and stayed sane; it was hard, it meant sacrifices-he had already lost many things that he valued deeply-but it was the only way. View quote
Damon Knight
He was going to die. His mind flinched back in horror from that, but it was still there, grinning, implacable. His body would rot under the ground, while delicious things were still happening in the sunlight. (Damon Knight)
... Heinlein is an engineer by training and a humanist by temperament. View quote
Damon Knight
The World of Ā. This widely-read novel began its career as a pretentious, foolish, wildly complicated and self-contradictory magazine serial. View quote
Damon Knight
Most striking of all, these. View quote
Damon Knight
The popularity of conspiracy theories is explained by people's desire to believe that there is - some group of folks who know what they're doing. View quote
Damon Knight